Jon McLaughlin - Beating My Heart

Just watched Jon McLaughlin's new video on Amazon.com. I really love this guy's music. I could listen to him over and over. In fact, I often do. I believe he's toured in Utah but I wasn't smart enough to go. I'm hoping he comes back soon.

If you are not familar with him, you really should check him out. You might have listened to him without even knowing it. He sings the So Close song at the end of Walt Disney's Enchanted.

His new CD is not out until Oct but You can check out his "old stuff," Indiana.

Weepies - Hideaway

So my friend, Brad, has enlisted 3 of his kids to star in a music video he made for the Weepies song Hideaway. He has entered it in the Weepies 'Hideaway' Video Challenge. Best of luck Brad. Judging the posts so far, I say he has it. Plus can you beat a flying super hero eating a snack?!

Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

My latest purchase, The Shade of Poison Trees, is Dashboard Confessional's latest CD. Sure it's not like hearing them live. But seeing them live has it's own pros and cons. I experienced them live a month or two ago at the Summer Jamboree. If you're not into listening to screaming girls or a large crowd singing along to every song then it's probably best that you just get this CD and listen to in the privacy of your own home. All of the tracks and the entire CD of MP3s are available from Amazon.

Jon McLaughlin - Indiana

It was earlier this summer that my friend, Brad, introduced me to Jon McLaughlin. Well, not to Jon himself, but to his music. It was an easy sell. I was immediately hooked. I've loved listening to the MP3s I had but now I am the proud owner of his CD entitled Indiana. If you like Ben Folds and John Mayer, then I'd recommend you try Jon McLaughin's work. All of the songs from his Indiana CD are available DRM-free from Amazon.

Jamboree Music Festival

So yesterday was the big Jamboree Music Festival 2007. Seeing how this is the first year of teh festival, I wasn't quite sure how it was going to work. I had never been to a show (or much of anything) at Thanksgiving Point. The stage and all was set up in the north west corner of the Electic Park. We had VIP tickets, so we entered in the west entrance. Where we picked up our free t-shirts, limited edition posters, and our VIP passes. We got there about 3pm expecting that we'd probably still get to see all the bands except for maybe the local band (who's name I don't remember) and maybe one other band. Instead we got there right at the end of Limbeck's set. So we missed Piebald, Steel Train, Limbeck, The Stella Brass, and the local band. Suprising since the show started at 1pm. Apparently in 2 hours they were able to zip through five bands. Oh well.

As I mentioned already, when we go there Limbeck was already playing. I'm not familar with their music at all but I enjoyed the few songs that they played while we were there.

Next up was Lucas Reynolds formerly of Blue Merle. Now I gotta say that I'm a Blue Merle fan and have been them twice in concert and really enjoyed both times. I kind of thought that Lucas was the keystone of Blue Merle and that he would be just as enjoyable on his own. I wish I wasn't saying this but I was not impressed by his solo act. Maybe he's still figuring it out or something but by himself, he leaves a lot to be desired. Of the songs he performed, his lyrics were comedic at best. I'm still hoping that he gets it together though. I'm rooting for you Lucas!

Colbie Caillat was the next to grace us. Now I had heard Bubbly and I had seen the video on VH1. Thus I was expecting her to come out and look a little folksy. So it was a little shocking to see her come out wearing what Stacy and Clinton would call a pot holder (mini skirt) and a halter top. It just made me think Mariah Carey. (and that's not good.) Fortunately Colbie is very talented and it showed in her voice.

Now here's where the show got really interesting for me. Another band that was new to me, The Format. Good stuff! I thought the lead singer looked like Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith until my friend suggested Mic Jagger. He was right. The band was very entertaining and had a great sound. I'll be adding some of The Format to my collection.

Toad the Wet Sprocket was after The Format. Now Toad has been a favorite of mine for years now. It was nice to see them playing together again. (In case you didn't know, they have "broken up.") I've seen them perform together several time now as well as Glen Phillips on his own. These guys are amazingly talented. Too bad the high schoolers standing behind just didn't get it. We wanted to deck them after several comments. I think they were just interested in crowd surfing anyway. Hard to do that while listening to Toad.

The headlining band was Dashboard Confessional. This was the second time for seeing them live. Chris Carrabba is amazing! What big talent in such a small package. That doesn't bother the girls though. They were going crazy the whole time. I felt like I was at a Backstreet Boys concert. (Other than I actually love the music.) If you've never seen Dashboard live, here's what you need to know: The audience will be singing every lyric. So be prepared!

Fountains of Wayne @ The Depot

Last night was my first time attending a show at The Depot in Salt Lake City. The Depot is located in The Gateway and is acutally in the old Union Pacific building. If you've never been there, you're missing out. It's a great venue! If only every concert could be held there. (No I don't own stock.) What did I like? Well first of all it's clean. I know, it's a novel idea. Also the layout is great. Not a bad view of the stage from anywhere in the place. Of course we were front and center for Fountains of Wayne on August 21, 2007.

If you've never heard of Fountains of Wayne, you probably just don't realize that you have heard them. There "big hit" from their last album, Welcome Interstate Managers, was entitled "Stacy's Mom." See! I knew that you had heard them. Of course that is probably not one of their better songs. (Depending on who you ask, I suppose.) Prior to last night, I was always annoyed with bands who refuse to play their hit songs that fans always seems to want to hear. Last night I actually felt for FOW as they started playing Stacy's Mom and a horde of drunk girls belted out the song at the top of their lungs while dirty dancing with each other. Personally I could have forgone the song rather than have that image burned into my mind. I'm guessing that the girls were there to get drunk, oh and to hear that one song.

But if we ignore drunk girls, the show was great. Fountains of Wayne has lots of fun lyrics and upbeat "pop" tempos. Don't let "Stacy's Mom" keep you from giving them a listen. They've got several CDs all of which are great:

Here's a clip of Fountains of Wayne at The Depot singing Hey Julie:

Josh Rouse - Nashville

Here's my latest purchase from BMG, Nashville by Josh Rouse. Actually they mistakenly sent me Al Green's The Definitive Greatest Hits. Not really even close. Fortunately for me BMG is really good at righting their shipment mistakes. They are even letting me keep the incorrect shipment. (I can always use a good white elephant come Christmas time.)

All the tracks are available on iTunes:

1. It's the Nighttime
2. Winter in the Hamptons
3. Street Lights
4. Carolina
5. Middle School Frown
6. My Love Has Gone
7. Saturday
8. Sad Eyes
9. Why Won't You Tell Me What
10. Life