Tobin Sprout - Awful Bliss Live Video

Its Friday, time for another lazy video post! Speaking of lazy, been feeling really run down the last few days and the thought that I might be catching a cold crossed my mind- many people have been sick at work, contaminating everything... the selfish bastards. So I've been downing Airborne like there's no tomorrow (it's surprisingly seems to work, if taken prior to actual symptoms- and I am the biggest herbal medicine/supplement skeptic). But lo and behold, tonight I have a sore throat. And it's the Friday before a three day weekend here in the U.S., our so-called Presidents ('s/s') Day (all presidents? just the two headed Washington/Lincoln hydra? just another excuse for a mattress sale?). Ack!

There to help soothe my troubles is this atmospheric black and white clip of Tobin Sprout and his band performing Awful Bliss at Schuba's in Chicago. Originally appearing on 1994's Bee Thousand, Awful Bliss is one of many fine Sprout contributions to Guided By Voices albums of that era. And the song perfectly captures my current state of being this gloomy evening.

See you on the other side of sickness, brothers and sisters in rock!

Updated! - Acid Ranch's "The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great" Is Sold Out!

(Don't say I didn't warn you! The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great is in fact great and officially sold out. Surprisingly, the 500 copies only took a couple days longer to sell out than the unique covers of As Forever. I'm sorry if you missed the opportunity to pick this one up. Perhaps it will be reprinted but I wouldn't count on it. The only Rockathon/Prom Is Coming/Fading Captain releases to get a second vinyl run were Kid Marine and Relaxation Of The As*hole...)

As reported in an earlier post, Acid Ranch's latest LP "The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great" is the first Robert Pollard release of 2007, now available for ordering through Rockathon Records! There is some urgency since its a limited edition of 500 vinyl copies only. Plus the previous two Acid Ranch albums have yet to be re-released or available in any other format, so get yours before they're gone. The tracklisting for The Great Houdini is as follows...

Gosimer
Wayne Saw It
Writhe
Lie To The Rainbow
Pure Hot Tar
I Wanna Go
The Kind Of Thing I Like To Talk About
You're Talkin’ Brotherly Love And You Set My Hand On Fire
Feeling Is
The Invincible Dart Throwing Competition
Contemplate The Sun
Chemical Fun In The Sun

Go Away
The Pain Stakes
Which Way To Run
Comp No. X
Lower Lords
Wee Wee Wah Wah
It's Weird What The People Say
Oh, Siren
Rogue
Not Version
....We'll Be Serving Coffee And Doughnuts
Wind & Whistle

Acid Ranch is one of Bob's pre-Guided By Voices projects consisting of Bob, his brother Jimmy and Mitch Mitchell messing around in their respective basements, creating some fun and primitive lowest-fi rock. Previous Acid Ranch releases include such gems as Supersonic Love Funky Love Gun, Song Of Love, Beautiful Plastic, Dungeon Of Drunks, and Star Sprinkled Banner. So its a worthy addition to any self-respecting Bob fan's collection, for reals. And just look at that cover (Bob, Bob Sr. and Kevin Fennell, left to right)- worth the price of admission alone!

Robert Pollard Collage "Tug Of War At The Faithful Center" On Ebay

Yet another lovely bit of Robert Pollard original art is up for auction on Ebay! "Tug Of War At The Faithful Center" is an amazing 9 3/4" x 8 3/4" collage featured in Pollard's literary journal Eat II. And it is unique as the first Bob art auction piece not affiliated with any known album or song. At a current bid price of just 500 bucks, it's a real steal for a one of a kind piece of rock history. The auction ends on February 20th so if you are financially inclined, bid often and bid well, fans of Bob!

New Doug Gillard Demos On MySpace

Wanted to give y'all the heads up that Doug Gillard, guitar hero, has been updating his myspace page over the last few weeks, cycling through a bunch of new demos for your listening pleasure! Awesome stuff all around. The tracks that really jumped out at me so far are No One Above You and Time Is Nigh, but they all surely rock.

Salamander, Doug's debut solo album is easily one of my favorite records of the last few years. And it still occupies a regular spot in my CD wallet. So it is with great excitement and baited breath that I'm enjoying these new songs. Keep doing what you do, Doug!

(And I know myspace is kinda twee, overrun with horny teenagers, fake celebrities and those who stalk them. But as a music fan, it's a great place to stay up to date with your favorite artists. Guided By Voices is very well represented, with pages for Gillard, Jon McCann, Tim Tobias, Robert Pollard several times over, Todd Tobias, Tobin Sprout, Nate Farley, and Mitch Mitchell.)



On a side note, sorry for the lack of posts of late. Been feeling wiped out from work and generally uninspired. The good news is that I'm feeling more lively this week. And I have a fun mega-post on the way to celebrate the one year (yipes!) anniversary of this blog and project. Stay tuned, true believers!