For those of you that know me or read my blog, you know that I frequently mention the A-Zone. The A-Zone was a radio show I listened to in Nashville during my high school years that helped shape my music tastes. It was on Saturday nights from 10-12 p.m. and I listened to it religiously. I had no social life in high school, and I always made sure I was home for this show. My brother and I would lay in bed and listen to it until it went off the air at mdnight.
Anyway, one of the hosts, Dr. Tony Shore, has a blog and a podcast. I just discovered the podcast, and decided it's about time I started listening to it. Hard to believe it has been almost 15 years since the A-Zone. Anyway, the address of his blog is: http://obvious.typepad.com/ Tony Shore also managed the record label "Silent Planet" for awhile, which released Aaron Sprinkle's 'Bareface' album and a Beach Boys tribute, among other things. The record label no longer exists, and it is hard to find much of anything about it online.
More about the A-Zone, I began listening in either 1993 or 1994 and it lasted until 1997 or so. Not only did my brother and I listen, we also called in frequently, especially my brother, who was broadcast over the air on numerous occasions. The other host besides Tony Shore was K.C. Jones, who also deejayed on Thunder 94, a Nashville mainstream rock station. They worked well together, as Tony played the "softer" stuff, and K.C., "the harder stuff." I listened to the show during the time Tooth & Nail Records started.
Then one time my brother and I actually visited the studio. A couple weeks prior to our visit, we called into the show outside of a Fleming & John concert we were attending in January 1995 (I will write more about this in my 1995 blog post, coming next week). I think we must have bought Tony a shirt or something. Anyway, we visited, hung out in the studio for awhile, and were given a 4-song pre-release cassette for the Fleming & John album 'Delusions of Grandeur.'
In 1995, I moved away for college, and Tony Shore sent me about 30 or 40 CDs to help me out. I named my radio show the B.A.Zone, or the Birmingham A-Zone, in tribute to the original show.
To wrap up this post, here are the artists I can think of off the top of my head that I heard for the first time on the A-Zone: Fleming & John, Dakoda Motor Co., Sixpence None the Richer, Poor Old Lu, the Prayer Chain, Mortal, Starflyer 59, Blenderhead, MxPx, PlankEye, Jars of Clay, Circle of Dust, Argyle Park, Michael Knott, Adam Again, Daniel Amos, Lost Dogs, Vigilantes of Love, the Innocence Mission, Over the Rhine, Havalina, Morella's Forest, Joe Christmas, the 77s, My Little Dog China, Wish for Eden...
Thanks to the A-Zone!
20090705
The A-Zone
20090629
Theology and Algebra
That is actually the name of a Blenderhead song, but not what this post is about. I just thought it made a cool title, and is half-way relevant.
Due the release of Jeremy Enigk's 3rd solo album, 'OK Bear' and the news of the Sunny Day Real Estate reunion, I have been listening to lots of his music. Today that is the Fire Theft. Of the eight albums that Jeremy sings lead on, it is my least favorite. That is not to say it is bad, it just doesn't grab me the way the rest of his solo stuff and SDRE does. There are some outstanding songs on it, mainly "It's Over" and "Heaven."
This post is about the song "Heaven." Heaven, both the song and the place, are two things I have never really understood, but I have had lots of thoughts about recently. And my thoughts about the place Heaven and the song "Heaven" parallel one another.
Heaven is described by most people as a physical place- where we have big mansions on gold streets, we hang out with angels, and oh yeah God is up there with us to. It has taken me 32 years to completely grasp this, but heaven is not a physical place. Do I believe it exists? Definitely. But heaven is being with God, period. Will I live in a fancy place? Maybe. But the point of heaven, and the point of salvation through Jesus, is that I get to BE WITH God eternally. That is awesome. I get to worship him, spend time with him, and all the rest will be nice but not really that important.
That brings me back to this song by the Fire Theft, with lyrics by Jeremy Enigk. I'll don't know what Jeremy was thinking when he wrote this song, but for the first time in six years, today it means something to me. You can't find heaven the place; you'll reach heaven when you fall in love with Jesus.
"heaven
are you really waiting outside the door
never though i'd hear the words before the road
sever
it's the simple things that are so hard to grasp
can't find myself in all the days that passed
but i can feel it when it shines
nevermind i'm falling in love with you
can't find the road that runs though
falling love with you
heaven
are you really waiting outside the door
never thought i'd hear the words before the road
sever
it's the simple things that are so hard to grasp
can't find myself in all these days that pass
but i can find feel it when it shines
nevermind the way they shy
turning around along the trail
my whole world is falling in love with you
can't find the road that runs through
falling in love with you
can't find the road that gets through"
20090627
Best of 2009, halfway there
Doing a redesign of blog, excuse the mess.
Third solo album from Enigk, and drastically different than the first two. Simple, raw production with much more guitar. Songs are shorter and less epic. Jeremy's unique, terrific voice is the focus. Album was recorded in Spain with Spanish musicians who were apparently big fans of SDRE.
I got it on emusic, but it is available on vinyl through a Spanish record label: BCore. To import it though from their website though it would cost me nearly $50. Maybe eventually I'll see if some store over here can get it for me for a reasonable price (less than $20).
20090623
20090608
Clarity
Wow, just looked at my blog and realized I hadn't updated since March- Oops! Most recent vinyl purchase is "Clarity" by Jimmy Eat World. It is one of my all-time favs, and was at the top of my vinyl want list, but I didn't think I would ever be able to afford the outrageous prices for the 1999 release on eBay. Well, thanks to the 10 year anniversary re-release I own it and have been spinning it!
Been listening to lots of heavy stuff recently- rediscovered my love for Demon Hunter, been listening to their first three albums (still haven't bought the newest one, but will soon). I also discovered Isis on emusic recently, they sound like a cross between Tool and Mogwai but with a minimal amount of gutteral metal vocals.
Just discovered Tess Wiley has a new band and a new album! The name of the band is Land der Lebendigen, and as you might have guessed, all the lyrics are in German. Song samples sound cool though, folkly but diverse instrumentation. I listen to plenty of instrumental music, so why not listen to music sung in German- might motivate me to continue to learn the language (started, sort-of, six years ago).
Lastly, I drove down to the beach this week and have been listening to non-stop Starflyer 59 in the car. Turns out I really like the album "My Island," more than I realized, and I don't really like the new album "Dial M", except for two songs.
20090326
Jeremy Enigk album artwork
A few weeks ago I found this cover online for the new Jeremy Enigk album, "OK Bear", set to release in May...
The guy that posted it said, "I did a handful of comps for the new Enigk record and this was my favorite." Because of that, I knew it wasn't official, but I loved it. Then today, I went to Jeremy's Myspace site and found this...
Are you kidding me!? Incredibly different concept. The cover isn't bad, but did they really use Comic Sans at the title font?!
20090319
20090303
Reason #11873 to buy vinyl
Pictures below are of the Appleseed Cast's new album, Sagarmatha. Buy it here.
