October 2007

The crowd cheered wildly as Ryan Montbleau sullenly sang a song about death from his new album, Patience on Friday. But the audience hadn’t misinterpreted it — the Red Sawx had just busted Game 3 of the World Series wide open.

All photos by Adam Kaufman

Music and sports came together this past weekend when the Ryan Montbleau Band shared the stage with the Red Sox during two special shows in Boston. As we told you last week, Montbleau’s gigs at The Paradise took place at exactly the same times as Games 3 and 4 of the World Series, which featured the Red Sox humiliating the suddenly ice-cold Colorado Rockies. Ryan’s manager, booking agent and promoter all advised him to cancel Sunday’s show, but we’re glad to report that the RMB avoided potential disaster when their fans rallied to make the weekend an overwhelming success. No Rally Monkey required.

Instead of ignoring the games, Montbleau embraced the circumstances and set up a huge screen next to the stage which showed the World Series to the audience. Luckily for the band, by the time Ryan & Company hit the stage on Saturday night, the Red Sox had already jumped out to a 6-0 lead, allowing everyone to focus on the music for the first set. Read on after the jump for much more…

HT Contributor Eliot Glazer has tremendously terrible taste in music. But he makes everything sound so damn appealing, so we allow him this soapbox…

I had never been much of a Family Guy fan. I found the humor too easy and not silly enough to actually be smart. That is, until I witnessed this clip on the television. Apparently, the writers of Family Guy face the same non-existential crisis I do: Is Randy Newman retarded or brilliant?

I’m pretty sure he’s just schizophrenic, suffering from maintaining two separate personalities. There’s Randall, the husky-voiced composer who writes and performs melodically expansive ruminations that have always labeled him the self-effacing philosopher that can be found waxing intellectual in a nearby dark corner (see: You Can Leave Your Hat On, Political Science, and God’s Song).

Then there’s Randy, the middle-aged dude whose quirky, fun canon of kid-friendly work equate to your goofy uncle’s deepest belly laugh (see: Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear and every song from the Pixar soundtrack library…ever).

When the “Randy” from the Family Guy clip pronounces “first” as “foist” before literally narrating what his eyes see (“left foot, right foot…”), I’m led to believe that the guy has somehow cheated his way into the larger pantheon of American music. Because that’s exactly what he is: a legendary American musician who has been showered in awards and accolades throughout his entire career, and not without witnessing other coveted musicians paying their respects by covering his tunes. But is it a sham? Read on to find out more about the true Randy…

After nearly a year on the road, Nickel Creek’s farewell tour comes to a close on November 29th. If you haven’t had a chance to see them before they go their separate ways, be sure to check out NPR’s webcast of Friday night’s show live from the 9:30 club in Washington D.C. Although, we’d really prefer to instead say goodbye to Nickelback from the public consciousness, not the Creek.

• Power User Trent Reznor calls OiNK “the greatest music store of all-time”
• Today we all mourn the loss of Robert Goulet — Goooolay!
• The mid-November Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival has been moved to The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL
• Van Halen extends their highly regarded reunion tour into 2008
• Elvis Presley ($49 mil) and John Lennon ($44 mil) head up Forbes.com’s list of the Top Earning Dead Celebrities
• Torrentfreak takes you inside the mind of a 9-year-old file sharer
• Heavy Mideast Metal: Baghdad’s Acrassicauda is truly a band on the run
• Die-hard fans of The Who will be offered access to a massive library of audio and video files for $50 a month
• Will Butler of Arcade Fire responds to Sasha Frere-Jones criticisms
• Check out the latest edition of Nedstalgia to find out how Neddy wound up in Dave Schools’ hotel room listening to the Dead

Finally, the full song list for the upcoming Rock Band video game looks absolutely incredible. We can’t wait to drum along with Epic or to sing Mississippi Queen when the game comes out on November 20th. Thanksgiving fun.