R.I.P: Patrice O'Neal (1969-2011)

Man. When it rains it pours. First Greg Giraldo, and now Patrice O'Neal passes on. I saw on Twitter that he had a stroke a month or so ago and judging by the somber tone of the O&A announcement soon after, it sounded like things were not optimistic. Last word was that he had been moved to a rehabilitation facility, where he evidently passed on 11/29 at the age of 41.

Patrice had been around forever, but was riding on some recent mainstream buzz after his spot on the Charlie Sheen Roast and his recent Elephant In The Room special. I'm told that he also had an arc on The Office. In the wake of his passing, a ton of material has appeared on the interwebs, all worth checking out. I expect that there will also be a slew of not-especially well done retrospective stuff put out and hope a collection of the late, great Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn series is part of it. Whether you are a long-time fan or Patrice came on your radar after the news blitz about his passing, check out his specials and buy the posthumous record called Mr. P due to be released in February.  You can pre-order Mr. P here.

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Tommy Stinson - One Man Mutiny

Tommy Stinson has meant a lot to me over the years. Not so much in recent years, as it still seems to be straight-up fucking odd that he's the bass guy in the Axl Rose fronted Guns And Roses tribute band that tours South America to keep the lights on, but Bash And Pop and Perfect were pretty great rock bands. Even the solo record he's released post-Perfect was kind of ok, albeit with a higher Meh factor.

One Man Mutiny is self-released, and wisely so, as while TS has some cachet with the older set, he's not exactly going to set the charts on fire. The songs here are decent, with tracks like It's A Drag and Seize The Moment rising above. Steel guitar makes an appearance on Zero To Stupid, but most of the tracks have a late period Mats feel. I think I'd prefer mid-period if I had my druthers, but lovers of all things Tommy Stinson will not be disappointed.

Get One Man Mutiny here from the official Tommy Stinson web presence.

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Trash Talk - Awake EP

Happy Thrashgiving:

I like Trash Talk as much as the next old guy. You're not going to catch me thrash-capped out and standing on the fringes of the pit with my deck ready to bean some sucker, but I will take exception to Trash Talk being featured as ESPY-rock. That's kind of fucked, I think, even if I could have stolen the cover art from another source.

Either way, Trash Talk are always a blast (ha!) to see live. The show with Youth Of Today that I evidently neglected write up was pretty aces, even if the skate douche factor was a little spiked. These five songs are the usual post-Flag thrash that you have come to expect from team Trash Talk. Awake should have you circle-pitting up a storm in short order. Get it here from said Trash Talk Collective.

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Bridge and Tunnel - Rebuilding Year

Bridge and Tunnel might be my favorite non-Drew related band here in town. It's nice to have a strong No Idea franchise in town, especially one that plies its trade in some co-ed 21st century post-Jawbox meets Jejune rock. And well at that.

Singer/Guitarist Jeff Cunningham pens much of the vocal material, but I would venture that Bridge and Tunnel are very much a democracy and co-guitar/vocalist Rachel Rubino is a powerful presence. Much is made of the female from Screaming Females, but Rachel tears it up here. She is no stranger to a fingertap, but is equally good with textures. Or singing lead on tracks like Hands. Ex-Jawbox-er J. Robbins recorded Rebuilding Year, lending a little bit of fat and smoothness to the sound while still masterfully matching the layers of vocals and guitar to make the strongest Bridge and Tunnel release we have heard to date.  If you like(d) the Midwestern rock of the late 90s and the last three decades of music DC has had to offer, I would snatch up Rebuilding Year and the entire Bridge and Tunnel catalog with the quickness. Get Rebuilding Year here from your friends at No Idea and use this link to keep track of all things B&T.

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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man

Andrew Jackson Jihad hail from the arid land of Arizona. AZ has been representing pretty hard in recent years, starting with Jimmy Eat World and Pollen and continuing with the late Shang-a-Lang and more currently with Andrew Jackson Jihad.

I really like a bunch of Andrew Jackson Jihad songs and feel the same way about a good bid of Knife Man, but the inner asshole in me does tell me that if AJJ were from Brooklyn and/or played Sidewalk with any regularity, I would be ever so quick to swig me some hater-ade and then shit all over them and Knife Man for a myriad of reactionary short-sighted reasons.

To start, AJJ are billed as folk-punk, which is a bit of a hackle raiser, if not a redundancy really. A second is the anti-establishment slash populist thing they've got going on that I'm pretty much on board with, although safe money is on the team drawing a crowd that will flare my inner cranky old guy intolerant tendencies. I don't normally stand on pretense and expect that my favorite bands have a singer who can really sing. Those looking for irish tenors would do well to look otherwise, as AJJ is not blessed with a young Sam Cooke as a frontman, but the songs on Knife Man are pretty uniformly strong, and definitely deeper than the titles like Hate, Rain On Me and The Michael Jordan Of Drunk Driving might belie. The duo seem to be investigating more of a full band thing rather than the duo thing I had believed them to have been purveying previously but it seems pretty unforced here, proving especially effective on tracks like the soaring closer Big Bird. I'd pick it up.

I believe AJJ are overseas currently, but keep track of all their current goings-on here. Get Knife Man here from The House That Park built.

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Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire

I haven't enjoyed a Ryan Adams record since the first one, although judging by the last ten years of press, I seem to number in the minority. Oh, well. I can't be the first guy to rightfully point out that the young man needs himself an editor and the full plate of ex-band members seems to support the young man's mercurial ways. The internet tells me Adams had actually retired from music a couple of years ago, owing to a battle with Meniere's. There you go.

Ashes & Fire is the first Adams record for Capitol. It was recorded at Adams' California studio, with Glyn Johns behind the boards. Norah Jones and his wife Mandy Moore lend backing vocals, as do Neal Casal and Chris Stills, for those of you scoring at home. Marks for Adams will probably eat this up, but I'd say he does little to dispel the notion of being a second-rate Steve Forbert.

Recent press for Ashes & Fire has claimed this is a high-water mark for the now clean and sober Mr. Adams, so I moved it higher up in the review queue than it would have normally been afforded. Those initial reviews may be correct, don't run with that too far. Ashes & Fire may be better than his recent spate of records, but it's still firmly in the Meh category to these ears.

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Jim Florentine - Cringe N' Purge

That Metal Show, aka The Best Show Currently On TV, has been a win-win all around. Bands that haven't seen wide-scale US TV time in decades can revel in new-school exposure and the hosts have been able to use the platform to expand their profiles accordingly. That has been a more slippery slope: Eddie Trunk's book was great and is highly recommended, but Don Jamieson's debut comedy cd is a disaster on the level of the Jimmy Fallon record of years past. Don't get me started on his stupid acoustic death metal project he's trying to hawk. Stick to TV producing, sideburns.

But I digress. Jim Florentine has deferred on the Trunk side of things with his recent work. His movie presence has expanded a ton recently and he's done ok for himself previously with the Crank Yankers and Terrorizing Telemarketers series. The have also been a couple of live stand-up releases previous that are pretty decent. Cringe N' Purge is his third, to my knowledge, and his first for Metal Blade. The usual Florentine topics of gay gays, religion and Slayer are addressed in typical Jersey style, so maybe don't play this at Thanksgiving for Grandma, but definitely pick up Cringe N' Purge if you like your comedy on the dark side of the politically correct.

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