Big Spring Jam XVI

Lee Greenwood's audience of thousands.



One of my favorite memories, and something that many of my friends in Huntsville share, is seeing Foo Fighters at the Big Spring Jam ten years ago. FF weren’t the megaband they are today, but for all of us who experienced Nirvana, seeing a solo Dave Grohl was an exciting curiosity. Would they play there now?

Some folks I talked to had some questions about this year’s line-up at the 16th Big Spring Jam in downtown Huntsville, AL. Huntsvillians complain about the line-up EVERY year. That hasn’t changed.

Three Dog Night


BSJ has always had a perhaps unfair reputation here in town of boasting a line-up of artists who were on their way up or on their way out. I may not be the demographic for Gretchen Wilson, but she’s still very successful. Buckcherry and Hinder are smaller known bands, but they’ve arrived onto their rock scenes according to their demographic. Other artists include Lee Greenwood, Kenny Rogers, Kansas, Styx, Three Dog Night and The Guess Who. These artists may be past their halcyon days, but they’re still considered giants in the industry. BSJ even booked its first hip-hop artist, T-Pain.







Fred LeBlanc from New Orleans' band Cowboy Mouth.





What did change this year is the number of stages: down to 3 instead of 5. Having been to a handful of BSJs in the past, I personally liked having fewer stages and more spacial area to gather for a show.

Make no mistake, Big Spring Jam, which falls on the fourth weekend in September every year, is a family event. There may be much live music, but there are tons of kids everywhere. Beer is roughly $4.50 a bottle, so who’s gonna be able to get hammered in this environment and economy?

Josh during Shinedown's performance at WZYP stage.

There are plenty of pockets reserved to keep the kids occupied and if you’re more interested to find out how Bama or Auburn are doing there are stations set up with widescreen televisions broadcasting the games. Have a brat, have some Greek food, or have a panini. Sip some pricy Bud Light or freshly squeezed lemonade. Relax, enjoy the fact that the humidity has finally let up, and stride lazily to your stage of choice.

This weekend I caught Cowboy Mouth, waved an American flag during Lee Greenwood’s set, sang along to Shinedown’s set, of which I had no idea how much I would know, and got more than I expected from Buckcherry. Let's talk a little about Buckcherry...






LA's Buckcherry Friday night at WZYP stage.


LA’s Buckcherry is not new to the scene, but they got a boost of mainstream success after their critically acclaimed album, 15, produced hits like “Sorry” and “Crazy Bitch”. Their sound is the love child of Sunset Strip bands of the 80s like Guns N’ Roses, Faster Pussycat, and Motley Crue. With no surprise I was in the audience, awaiting the sound I grew up with and loved so desperately. The band took the stage after ten and performed an energetic and shocking set that included the most sexually explicit soliloquies from lead singer, Josh Todd. It was so explicit I saw disgusted glances between some audience members, parents leaving with their children (didn’t they know?), and shocking still were the parents remaining. And I, standing with one hand permanently glued to my mouth with eyebrows raised, waited for the cops to haul Josh away in handcuffs at any moment. I won’t lie, it was that spectacle that made thousands in the audience break into an evangelical frenzy. It was quite a performance, and when I looked past the excessive graphic descriptions, Buckcherry earned every penny with their talent and experience and good music. I walked away a new fan. Ironic, I know.

The next band that surprised me was Hinder on Sunday night. I have always been critical of their over-produced jock rock sound, though there was something about “Homecoming Queen” that I had to have it on my iPod. The band hails from Oklahoma and are no strangers to Huntsville, having performed at Sammy T’s in the recent past (there was also the dozens of
times that lead singer Austin Winkler referenced Huntsville during the set).

Crowd surfing at Hinder's show.




They definitely have a demographic here and you could tell by the size of the audience that had swelled to three times its size by the time the band took the stage. The band performed hits such as their debut single “Get Stoned”, mega-hit “Lips of an Angel”, “Better Than Me” and my favorite “Homecoming Queen”. The boys sipped jager throughout the set and worked hard for the audience’s approval. I was impressed. I suppose the next thing to look for are the four horsemen?



Happiness at Styx show.







So, with that Huntsville’s Big Spring Jam XVI came to a close Sunday night and I ate my words about two bands that I swore I would never get into. Well, perhaps I’m not a superfan of either, but I’m about to transfer a few new songs onto my little iPod. UNEXPECTED. -K

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

We’ve said this before here at judakris.com, It’s harder to write about something you like than something you don’t. I think my buddy S though sums up how I feel about the new KoL record if I might plagiarize…

Sweet, 6lb, 8oz Baby Jesus!!!

Funny, as I listen through their back catalog, I am surprised, of all their records before this one, that Youth and Young Manhood, their first didn’t make more of an impact on the U.S. I hear lots of singles on that one. But that was before this record. This is the one. If you don’t like this record, then just hang it up, you won’t like this band. The vocals are accessible, the bass lines are groovy, it’s KoL ready for U.S. primetime. –J

Get Outta My Way iTunes!

Have any of you scratched your head at the concept of pre-ordering a record on iTunes? What really is the point since iTunes is all about instant gratification. Well, lately they have started adding bonus tracks not available unless you pre-order to make this idea more appealing. I recently pre-ordered a record since I knew the day it came out I would be purchasing it anyway in order to take a look at the bonus material.

Picture this, it is Tuesday morning in the UK and I settle down to a cup of coffee and the plugging in of my iPod to download the new record for my commute to work.

Commute to work starts and after daughter is safely off to school, I put in my ear buds and prepare for my first listen of some of the new material….but they aren’t there. I frantically do a check on the iPod and only three of the tracks have downloaded. Hmmm, maybe I unplugged before the downloading had finished?

Get to work and plug everything in and click on the check for purchases, get the message that there are no new purchases and the iPod is synched up.

Begin my commute home, thinking alright, all the tracks must now be there! NOPE!

So I try it all again when I get home, comparing the tracklist to what is in my iTunes and I still don’t see all the songs. I go to the purchase history and it looks like I have purchased ALL the tracks so next to the album title there is a “report a problem”. I use this to explain that not all the tracks downloaded. I also go to the “report a problem” next to a couple of individual tracks and report that they haven’t been downloaded thinking this is overkill since I am hoping my reporting of the problem with the album as a whole will fix the situation.

Picture this, I wake up Wednesday morning and with my cup of coffee I check my email and see that iTunes has fixed the problem but only with the two individual tracks that I have reported, which means I had to report the other two today in order to get the complete album. So what this means is that I could have walked to a London record store from my village and back and bought a copy before I had the entire album from iTunes. What the fuck?

If I am going to buy a full album, I want to hear it for the first couple of times from start to finish. Is that too much to ask for?

Accidents can happen and since I work in a technology company, I can forgive a portion of this. What I have trouble with is the stingy customer support. After typing into what ended up being six or seven “report a problem” forms, you’d think they’d just set up my account to download the whole album again. It’s not like I would be getting something for free by them doing this. Somehow the bonuses just don’t seem like bonuses now… --J

I Feel Bad For Laughing But...

You know, it's a crappy thing for me to bring this up since I know these boys have become America's "precious". Regardless, I can't get over this video in which one of the wholesome trio eats it onstage at the 2007 AMAs. I once sent this video to J to make her smile. I think it worked. Watch and enjoy. -K

Gerard and Mikey? Did I Hear That Right?

Last night Mad Men aired a repeat of the Three Sundays episode from Season 2, during which the new parish priest joins one of the characters' family for a meal. Just as the family is about to sit down at the table one of them yells "Gerard, Mikey! Wash your hands!". This is the second time I've seen this episode. How did I miss this? -K

Travis Barker and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein Sustain Critical Burns in Weekend Plane Crash

Sometimes I feel like all I'm doing these days is delivering bad news.This weekend I got a phone call from a friend saying that the former Blink 182 drummer was killed in a plane crash. My mouth fell open from shock, but here’s what actually happened...

Travis Barker and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein were taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport in a small jet when a tire blew. The crew was unable to reject the takeoff and the plane ran off the end of the runway, over a highway, and crashed into a berm. An eye witness on the news over the weekend said they saw two men stumble away from the wreckage and that they were badly burned. These two men were Travis and Adam. They are currently being treated for second- and third-degree burns, but are expected to fully recover. Unfortunately, the 2 crewmen and 2 passengers did not survive the crash.

Travis and Adam had just played a free outdoor concert in the Five Points District on Friday night and were headed back to Van Nuys, CA. -K

The Celebrity Playlist

Have you ever looked the celebrity playlists on iTunes? Every once in awhile I do, but it doesn’t influence my purchases. Sometimes it seriously looks like a celebrity must be in promotion mode for a new record/television show/movie and their publicist must have presented them with the opportunity to do a celebrity playlist. I could see the directions being something like:

At least one song must be a current hit
At least one song must be an oldie to show that you listen to more than top 40
At least one song must be obscure
At least one song must be critically acclaimed

Some of them seem unbelievable and unnecessary like Dina Lohan (?). My favorite recently was Chris Rock’s playlist. I think it got my attention because Wet Sand is my favorite song off of Stadium Arcadium, but it also seems like a believable mix by someone who loves music. Here's his playlist. Log on to iTunes to see his commments about each. --J

187um (Deep Cover Remix)[feat. Snoop Dogg] - Dr. Dre
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Wet Sand - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stop F****n' WIt Me - Lil John
Never Enough - The Cure
Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes
She Lives in My Lap - OutKast and Rosario Dawson
Hello It's Me - Todd Rundgren
Stroke of Death - Ghostface Killah
The Moment is All There Is - Lenny Kravitz

Pink Floyd Keyboardist Dies

I just received a text message from a fellow Floyd fan with the sad news that Richard Wright died from cancer today. He created some of the most haunting and inspiring atmospheres to classic albums like Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle, The Division Bell and Wish You Were Here. -K

Lovebug to Sex On Fire

I am trying NOT to make my half of this blog all about Kings of Leon but they do have a new record coming out next week and since work is kicking my ass and I want a sure thing, the only concert I have on the books is seeing them at the O2 Arena in December, even though I just saw them last month. Also, because of the publicity surrounding the new record, the press is pouring in and the attached article is killing me! Maybe the Followills just need to start a mentoring program…

On a related note, KoL is sharing with their fans 23 home movies for the 23 days leading up to the release of Only By The Night. There are some hilarious moments, including their cousin and tour manager explaining how he got his nickname (some very un-Jonas behavior is discussed). My favorite though is when their mother is in the studio singing a gospel song with Caleb harmonizing, Nathan smoking, and Jared mugging for the camera as only a baby of the family can.

KoL fans, protect me… I tried to make a feminist statement about Fall Out Boy a few years back that was misinterpreted by their fans as a slam (so not what I meant). The Jonas Brothers fans may hunt me down and kill me. --J

The Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers played a single gig in the UK this week. Do they cause the same stir here? Read the review...

Madonna at Wembley

So Madonna performed at Wembley on September 11th and The London Paper had a sensational review of it. My favorite quote was this:

"After seeing Kylie Minogue recently, all I can say is that maybe it is time Madonna gave it up. Kylie charges half the price for a ticket, actually signs live, looks better and cares about the audience."

It was hilarious to read that since last month I had written the following, but just hadn’t posted it.

I laugh whenever I think of an IM chat that K and I had months ago. I have never followed Kylie Minogue’s career and I was surprised to learn after I moved to the UK that her sister Dannii has also had a pop career. One day I IM’d her and said that I knew what I would say may be controversial to some people but I didn’t understand why the world needed two Minogues. Her response was, “Lay off the Minogues Woman!” hahahahaha

Today I was flipping channels and ran across Kylie’s recent concert at the O2 Arena in London and I stopped and watched for a few songs. Is Kylie the poor man’s Madonna? I ask this because there was a lot of choreography, costume changes, and even a Geisha theme as Madonna has done in the past.

Madonna, one of your target audiences may be questioning you. --J

OH MY GOD!!!!!

Oasis is releasing a new record. Underwhelmed? Feeling like the title of this post is unnecessary? Yeah, I feel that way. Should there be this much fanfare for a new Oasis record? Here in the UK Q is pulling out all the stops in their magazine and on their music channel.

I might feel differently if K and I hadn’t seen them live in 2005 in Chicago. Every time they would play a song from their catalog beyond Be Here Now, the momentum of the show just slowed. In the late 90's they seemed like a refreshing change from what was going on in American music but now, not so much.--J

2008 VMAs - Heaven Help Us

Debby Downer alert!

I just watched the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and just want to put a couple things out there. Britney “dead eyes” Spears owned the night and gave the same acceptance speech for each award. Really there’s nothing more to say about that.

Secondly, the whole “nothing is as it seems” didn’t translate at all from my perspective. The performances seemed small and minor. The VMAs didn’t have that pomp and circumstance that it used to. The producers tried to give the illusion that it was big or something, but it failed. Simply put, I found it boring as hell.

Thirdly, why- OH WHY are we celebrating The Jonas Virgins, I mean Brothers? WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US?

Finally, poor Brit Russell Brand didn’t translate in America. His rather funny and harmless comment about the Jonas’ Brothers vow of chastity, symbolized by rings, unleashed the fury of fellow virgin Jordin Sparks who stood defiantly onstage with the shoulders of a linebacker and defended the promise of abstinence. Standing next to John Legend, who looked like Mike Meyers did when Kanye West declared that George Bush doesn’t care about black people on live television, she stated “I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody, guy or a girl, wants to be a slut.” Am I wrong to say that I find it hard to believe one of them is a virgin after dating Miley Cyrus? I’m just saying. We ALL saw the multiple pics of her being a regular teenager...in the shower. Anyway, as J put it, Sparks is in her fourteenth minute of fame so who gives a shit what she says. But, I think Russell put it well when he countered with “a little sex never hurt anybody.” Ha! Russell, you may want to stay on your shores. We’re all drowning in our own hypocrisy and recession in this great country.

The pomp and circumstance of past VMAs were noticeably absent, we imported a host, we celebrated mediocre virgins and then saw Britney own the night--it's clear these are signs that we are in dire straits in this country. Finland, take me away.

Check out this hilarious bit from Popcrunch.com. It's like this chick is reading my mind 0:-)



-K

Pop Britannica

Last week I watched a great documentary about pop music in England. I think it was a multi-parter but I saw just one part. In the timeline of the show, right after discussing the manufactured pop bands of the 90’s and then the rise of shows like Pop Idol and X Factor, there was a segment on Damon Albarn’s next project, Gorillaz which he created with a graphic artist. It was described as the ultimate manufactured band since it was made of two dimensional characters.

Damon Albarn said this of Gorillaz: It was “An English version of hip hop very successful in America… it is British but because it’s a cartoon it is very hard to identify that. Especially for the Americans and that’s why it did well because Americans don’t, to be honest with you allow anything other than American hip hop”

Well, my first thought was if they keep sending things like Lady Sovereign to our shores, yes, we will only accept American hip hop! But then I also started thinking about Gorillaz and how, if I am remembering correctly, Gorillaz was totally marketed to the U.S. alternative market, not the hip hop market, so I guess it still wasn’t accepted as he intended it to be. Whenever I play Feel Good Inc. I’m taken back to the summer of 2005. It was on heavy rotation on my iPod and part of mine and K’s late night drives back from concerts. --J