By Todd Williams

It will always have a  prominet place on my iPod.

49:00, the subversive, covert and now commercially unavailable release by the Godfather of Alternative Music, Paul Westerberg, is probably Westerberg’s best work since “Let It Be” or “Hootenanny” when he was a member of the seminal alt. rock band, “The Replacements.”

In many ways, it musically isn’t that far from some of his better solo work such as the “Mono” and “Stereo” era. But in other ways, it easily stands out as Westerberg’s best work.

Perhaps it is the way it so perfectly captures Westerberg. It leads off with somewhat darkly, foreboding almost. Over the course of the album, though, it gives way to a more optimistic, more uplifting vibe, culminating with a final track that features his pre-teen son barking vocals like dad used to do when he was thrash.

And it is done as an album. There are no tracks, thus the title. When it is downloaded (the only format it was available in), it is a single 44:55 track. Thus, it is delivered in a way to make the user take it whole, warts and all.

Still, what is even more Westerberg is the way the album moves. It begins with near full songs and pop gems, fading into one another. After a few songs, it breaks down into shorter, song fragments that are sonically strong. Pretty soon, it’s a jumbled mess, much like Westerberg’s career or a Replacements concert. As it approaches its ultimate destiny, the album surges back to life with an odd medley of covers that range from the Beatles to the Partridge Family.

It’s this penultimate offering that likely forced the album’s removal. Or perhaps its the fact that Westerberg plays some of the outtakes that he had recorded when he was under a previous recording traffic.

Regardless, it is now off the market, available only to afficiandos and those clever bit torrent downloaders.

It is fitting that Westerberg’s best work will be barely available. It fits his career to a T. And like a series of albums largely unavailable to the general public (Brian Wilson’s ‘Smiley Smile,’ Prince’s ‘Black Album,’  or even Wilco’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ before they re-signed and released it), “49:10″ most certainly will gain status as much for its mysteriousness as it will for what it is.

Which is unfortunate. It is certainly a must have.

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Journal staff

I don’t remember why we were driving around, but I do remember that Sky was playing the DJ. He was doing that thing where he tried to expose me – his sweet, musically clueless friend – to some kind of musical genius. Specifically, Phish.
 
I tried to be the good friend and I really wanted to like it because if Sky thought these guys were geniuses and I could understand their greatness somehow I might be a little bit closer to genius myself.
 
Well, I did not get closer to genius that day. I just didn’t get it, period. Honestly, I kept waiting for it to get interesting. I was hoping for a melody, lyrics – something that I could relate to or even mildly enjoy. I got nothing.
 
In fact, because of Phish I was anti-funk guitar for a long time, and ultimately I did learn a lesson about music from Sky that day. I learned that I don’t like jam bands. I also learned that I am a lyric girl. I also learned that I think Phish sounds like elevator music.

Sadly,I had another Phish-y experience last Friday night. I was visiting my sister in Brookings and we went to see a band – a Phish cover band.
 
“Wait, a cover band of a jam band?” you may be wondering to yourself.
 
Yes, a jam cover band – or a cover jam band. Either way I felt like I had fallen through some crack in the universe. The band was good – well they were skilled – and I had fun because I was with my sister and her friend Addie, but I was certainly perplexed. And kind of annoyed.
 
I was again confronted over and over with the fact that I am incapable of recognizing the greatness of Phish. I kept wondering when the songs were going to take. The group did play covers of other bands as well. Bands who I do find great. Bands like CCR – I know I’m not that complex musically. But these songs took forever as well.

Seriously, how many times do you have to twist and torture a melody before it is just DEAD! Enough already. But then again, I wasn’t high like a lot of the audience members.
 
Anyway, moving on, besides the CCR, the best part of the night was the fact that it all reminded me of Sky. (I miss you and I love you Sky.) On the other hand, the worst part was the drunken boy that kept trying to dance with my sister – and ended up dancing with me.

To be fair at least he could lead, and he did dip me at least twice. However, he was rather drunk, only knew how to two-step and kept dancing with me to the CCR songs.
 
First of all, CCR is great, but it isn’t exactly dance music. I mean would it ever occur to you when you hear “Bad Moon Rising” that it’s time for a two-step? Yeah me either. The other issue was that these songs are long to start with and the group playing them was a jam band – so they went on forever!

Admittedly I like CCR, but after a five minute guitar solo, unyeilding variations on drums and getting spun 100 times during one song I don’t want to hear “Fortunate Son” again for the REST of my life.
 
Yeah, jam bands aren’t my friend.

By Eric Lochridge

Sad, shocking news from the Dave Matthews Band today: Sax player LeRoi Moore died Tuesday of complications from injuries received in an ATV accident earlier in the summer. Not too many details about what happened yet.

I never really cared much for horns in rock music until I heard the Dave Mathews Band. Something about Moore’s sound and style changed my mind.

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Journal staff

Lately, I’ve been able to talk to some famous people – how cool is that. In fact, I almost got to interview the guitar player for Three Doors Down…almost. These famous folks are mostly musicians. Now obviously I’m a writer, not a musician, so the creative process of the musically inclined has always been fascinating to me.

This Monday morning I got to talk to RyAn McCombs, the lead singer of Drowning Pool about their upcoming gig with Motospycho Mania here in Rapid City at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Aug. 20.

I’m a total dork about talking to famous people – especially talented famous people and Drowning Pool is kind of a big deal. They just played Ozzfest last week, after all.

So, during our conversation I have to admit I allowed my fascinations to get me a little off track. But the things I found out were really interesting. So, I thought I’d share.

 

So where are you in the world right now?
We just had a show last night and we’re travelling right now. We’ll be getting some hotel rooms so we can relax for the night in St. Louis for a day off.

So how did you guys get hooked up with Motopsycho Mania?
Our booking agent handles the booking of that as well so we got involved.

How do you feel about the motorcycles and music set-up?
Well, at this point I’ve not done a Motopsycho Mania show yet. But we’re excited about it. I’ve always enjoyed these type of shows though. We’ve done stuff in the past they’ve mixed us up with some extreme sports and it’s a gift of a job to have. We really appreciate it.

Touring can be a lot of the same stuff over and over when you think about it. You feel like you’re caught in that movie “Groundhog Day” once in a while. It’s a change of pace for us.

It’s also cool because of the bands we’ll be playing with. We’re long-time friends with Sevendust and the other guys we’ll be playing with are cool too.

For our readers who might not be too familiar with your band can you explain your sound a bit?
We like to consider ourselves a little more rock than metal but it’s combination. The older I get the more they add categories into music. I don’t even understand most of them. We’re a modern day rock band. We like to bring a lot of energy to the show. We like to have fun. We like the crowd to have fun and we just like to have a good time.

So I was trying to figure out if you guys have been to Rapid City before.
Oh, I think we have, but honestly I couldn’t tell you for sure. We do five to six different cities every week. This past Saturday was our 250th show just on this record alone. I know I’ve played in every state but as far as the cities we’ve been to it can really just blur together; especially being in a band — a Texas band at that — we tend to get carried away with the libations.

Can you tell me a little bit about your current album?
I think it’s a well-rounded album. There seems to be something on there for every body. We have tracks that the old school drowning pool fans are going to like, plus we have the stuff like “Soldiers” and “37 stitches.” There is going to be a new single out this month called “Paralyze” it’s one of the softer lighter songs I think that Drowning Pool has ever done before.

When we were making this album we didn’t ask “is this ‘Drowing Pool’ enough?” We just let every song be what it was going to be. We are letting each song stand on its own and as a result this album ended up with a little bit of something for every body.

So this is your third studio album, right?
Well, its Drowning Pool’s third album, not mine. In 2001 they put out the first album “Sinner” then in 2004 was “Desensitized” and on Aug. 7, 2007 we put out this one, “Full Circle.”

You weren’t on the first two albums?
Nope, the band has been together since ’96 or ’97. I’m the new guy though. I’ve been with the band for about three years now.

Was it hard for you to come in to an already established band to be the lead singer?
It was definitely a hard descision for me to make. I met these guys back in 2000 when I was in a band called Soil. We all just hit it off. Their lead singer was my best friend in the business and then he passed a way.

That was about the same time that I was taking a break. I was out of music for about nine months. I just got burnt out from the business side of things. Then the guys came too me about the time the bug was biting me again and they asked me if I’d like to be their singer.
I just thought to myself that if I was going to do it again these were the guys I was going to do it with. It was just a good fit.

In a band setting someone usually has to be in charge and a lot of times that’s the role the lead singer takes. How did that work? Were you worried about being an outsider or messing up the group dynamic when you came in?
I just stepped right in and took control. Because of the friendships that were there we already knew each other inside and out. In general we knew ach other for so long that there wasn’t any fear of stepping on toes.

I played my first show when I was 13 so I’ve been in a lot of bands, and this group is the healthiest situation I’ve ever been in. The egos are checked at the door which is great with the writing.

I’m not kidding when I say we check the egos at the door. We can say that riff wasn’t as good as it could be or that vocal line wasn’t as great as it could be. We have that freedom in this band. Everybody knows that at the end of the day we’re just trying to make each song as good as we can.

So, Ryan was a really cool guy and that makes me want to go to the show. It also made me want to do a ton more research on the bad.

If you want to know more you can check out their website: www.drowningpool.com, or their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/drowningpool. You can also check out their new video “37 Stitches at: music.aol.com/video/37-stitches/drowning-pool/2186530

For more information on the Motopsycho Mania event see this Friday’s Weekend section in the Rapid City Journal

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff

I just left the Sugarland/ZZ Top concert and my ears are ringing and I’m so tired I can hardly think straight. So, I’m hoping that when I read this again in a couple days, it’s somewhat coherent. My apologies if it isn’t. I’ll make it short and sweet.

After some back and forth with the Buffalo Chip about who, what, where and when we could shoot photos, I was resigned to keeping my camera aimed only at the audience (they threatened to take it away if I shot anything on stage) and our photographer Seth was in the pit getting the good stuff. In hindsight it’s probably a good thing because I know he got some great shots of the artists in action and really, you’ll be glad he was in the pit and not me. (The photos will be coming soon.)

I’m not quite comfortable yet with the opinion thing on these blogs, mainly because it was beat into my head in journalism school that journalists don’t write about their opinions. But, I’m gonna be honest. I know one, maybe two ZZ Top songs, but I know every single Sugarland song. I just do. So, sorry if I talk more about the latter.

Sugarland opened for ZZ Top. And there was that moment at about halfway through their set when I did like I do at every concert - close my eyes and just listen to the music, the words, the voice live. Totally completely live. What a great sound that is. I think it was when they did “Stay” and Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush were the only two on the stage, and everything got really quiet. It was just her voice, and the crowd’s and the beautiful, naked sound of one single guitar floating on the night air.

And then, the lights came back on, and the rest of the band came onstage and they jumped around some more, gave away a free guitar, and gave one encore before exiting stage.

ZZ Top came on a half an hour late to a crowd that was packed and semi-inibriated. One of their first songs was “Got me under pressure.” I stayed for a couple, looked at all the people drinking and decided it was time to hit the road before they stumbled to their cars.

It’s in the wee hours of the morning now and I’m sure that there are still people there listening to the ZZ Top closing number. As for me, I’m hoping to sleep off the headache I have and the visions of the topless 50-year-old woman dancing around mid-concert.

I’m hoping my dreams are filled with some of the great things I saw tonight - Sugarland on stage, a husband giving his wife the better spot on the picnic table so she could see the stage, the vastness of the black South Dakota sky over our heads tonight as we heard some great music.