As those of you who know him are aware, Todd's got music knowledge coming out of his ears. A veteran of over 20 years working in collectible record stores, managing recording studios, promoting concerts, recording and touring for record labels, and just being an overall music lover and performer, he's a downright hillbilly musicologist! We know him as the guy to go to with those questions that only a record store, high-fidelity type geek could answer. We talked him into periodically sharing a few of his thoughts here on The Cowlicks site, hope you enjoy 'em like we do.

May 11, 2005

It's been so long I can't remember who we warmed up for in Detroit that Saturday night. I think it was The Blasters, I'm almost positive. Our van driver and bassist fell asleep at the wheel with the cruise-control on, and we went off the road into a v-shaped ditch. None of us in The Trillionaires knew what was going on. A Gospel radio station was tuned in and played softly. Asleep, with my feet up on the windshield in the front passenger seat, it felt like we were being swept up in a tornado. After flipping three times and my feet and legs slamming into the windshield several times, I found myself laying in a bed of snow about fifteen feet from the van. The van was upside down with the wheels still spinning, Gospel music still playing. I guess I had popped the windshield out clean because there it was beside me. I pulled a ball point pen out of my lower leg and went into a beautiful calming shock, as I watched my unharmed brothers crawl out of the windshield hole in the van.

It was just a matter of months before we were out warming up for Wall of Voodoo, me on crutches, and then a cane. Sometimes life's twists, wrecks, and turns just walk us through to our next adventure. I'm always on the lookout for my next one. A recent find is Calexico's "Feast of Wire" released in 2003.

Entry #2: Calexico "Feast of Wire"

Well, where do I start with these guys? Calexico defines Americana better than just about any other band I can think of. New, fresh ideas, with a Southwestern slant on the Alt-Country, Americana vibe. From Tex-Mex, Spaghetti Western sounds, to futuristic and even jazzy textures, these guys pretty much cover it all. Born out of Giant Sand, Joey Burns and John Convertino are multi-instrumentalists that invite other great players along for the journey. Songs like "Not Even Stevie Nicks" make me wonder why we're not hearing Calexico on progressive FM rock stations. But I guess most of the folks in that radio world are barely ready for Wilco, let alone another twist on this genre. I get the feeling from talking to my younger generation of friends that Calexico is doing just fine. I do hear them on college stations often, which is where I'm generally tuned. Highlights are "Black Heart", "Close Behind" (featuring Paul Niehaus on steel guitar, and should be in the next Spaghetti Western film made!), "Crumble", the beautiful "Sunken Waltz", "Across the wire", and "Attack El Robot". I'd recommend listening to the entire "Feast of Wire" CD from top to bottom, as intended, for the most satisfying listen. Every time I insert this disc into my player and "Sunken Waltz" begins to play I know I'm in for the entire trip down Calexico road, and I'm happy to be on it. Find out more about Calexico here: http://www.billions.com/artists/calexico

March 29, 2005

A Brief Introduction and Warning

My parents often asked me if I remembered being hit by a car when I was 4 years old. I don't. I sometimes wondered when my parents asked me that, if in fact they had been run over by a vehicle before having me. Anyway, if you disagree with my raves, just blame the driver I'll never remember, and keep in mind that I believe reviews should only be positive. I'm a generally positive person, and feel that positive energy is the light of life.

Country and country rock music keeps creeping in and out of my life. When I discovered Gram Parsons the same week I was turned on to Alex Chilton/Big Star in 1980 it all sounded the same to me. After all, The Beatles did Buck Owens covers and had country tunes, so did The Rolling Stones; and Southern rock/soul performers like Alex Chilton/Box Tops did blue eyed soul, dipped deeply in Southern culture and roots. Gram Parsons played with and influenced the Stones. I grew up in the country, loving rock, punk, country rock, and country. I read that Gram took everything and threw it in a burlap bag, and called it cosmic American music. Reading things like that made me feel like I was not insane (possibly not run over by a car at age 4) and maybe in tune with a league of musicians that would play and write what they feel.

I write and play whatever the heck comes out. I don't stop the flow or try and put it in a frame. I write a lot of music, and don't want to change an ever flowing tide that's based on the flood of new music I hear everyday. Whether it's Buck Owens, The Flaming Lips, Johnny Cash, The Ramones, Radio Head, Calexico, Merle Haggard, The Raspberries, Bill Monroe, Badfinger, ELO, or Bob Wills, it's all great music to me. I was blown away when I learned that Ozzy Osbourne loved my hillbilly covers of his Paranoid, and Iron Man. He actually signed my copy of me doing his songs hillbilly style. How cool (for me) and fun loving. Ozzy's open-mindedness gave me the idea that maybe I should pen my own positive rants about the new and somewhat out of the ordinary music that makes a dent in my world. Here I go diving in to the deep end of a bottomless pool. I hope you enjoy hearing about the music, new and old, that I'm checking out. I work at two music stores and hear everything. I love music. Mostly country, but sometimes not. Traditional, but mostly non-traditional. I like adventure.

Entry #1: The Flaming Lips

I started hearing the Flaming Lips randomly at work about a year ago. When the CD player was on shuffle, usually playing music I'd hear but couldn't stand or blocked out, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" kept breaking down my wall of not wanting to hear anything a 17 year old would like. Then I started to tune in. I realized by my auto-struck way of thinking that it sounded like countrified Neil Young in a future world. Haven't ya ever read any Phillip K. Dick? I listened to Yoshimi a little closer at home, and fell in love with it. The Flaming Lips heartfelt beautiful songs and arrangements had a youthful energy I hadn't felt in a really long time. "Fight Test," "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1," and "Do You Realize" are standouts on an incredibly focused concept album. After listening a zillion times and visiting the Flaming Lips web site that features video and multimedia, I remembered the feeling I had listening to a new David Bowie record in the 70s, or a new Mott the Hoople album. The Flaming Lips sure do sound like a country rock statement to me. Maybe just a hundred years ahead of its time. Given the high tech gear we have today I'd find it hard to believe that The Buffalo Springfield would not have made such a trippy record in '68 given the opportunity. Think Neil Young's "Broken Arrow." Glitter, rhinestones, country rock, and maybe spaceships, mars, and karate! The Flaming Lips have all of that, plus Wayne Coyne's inspiring antiwar sentiments. God bless the brave, and musically adventurous. Research more Flaming Lips here: www.flaminglips.com