When Johnny Cash gave mainstream country the finger in Billboard I felt vindicated. However, that crappy McCountry is still running rampant. To quote Hank Williams III, country music today has lost its O. I suppose that's true for most genres; the mainstream we're all getting shoved down our throats just isn't any good, or representative of a genre as a whole. But back to country - and the middle finger. 40 Rod Lightning played one and gave the other just the way I like it Friday night at Dubland Underground, a cool downstairs joint with a quasi-Scorgies feel in a

I've switched from Nu-Nile to Murray's Beeswax as the choice of goo for my 'do, but the shit is still flammable. So I'm always a little wary of walking into churches. But Tuesday afternoon I popped over to the Downtown United Presbyterian Church where D-Drive was filming a video (a little music-based vignette like they used to show on MTV, in case you're too young to remember) for the song "Pray For Tomorrow" off the band's latest, "Straight Up The Middle." Principle shooting had wrapped up and the band was focusing on close-ups. It was cool to see singer Phil

When last we spoke, I was pulling my Luddite ass out of analogue quicksand with the iPod preserver my wife threw me for Xmas. I'm in the midst of a move and have become painfully aware of my music collection's size and weight. So the convenience of potentially putting it all in something the size of a deck of cards is pretty cool. But let me tell you about the shuffle...This is feature surpasses the hairpin turns and segues in my head. Its apparent randomness has created some of the most eclectic and cool sets of music that create an entirely

About 2000 LPs, 4000 CDs, 1000 45s, and all my wife's $&*#@ shoes... that's why I'm walking this way. I think I'm even typing with a limp. It's also why I missed Bill Kirchen's show Friday night with the Hi-Risers at the German House. But I made it out Saturday night with the help of a couple Vicodin.Heavy Kevvy's annual Valentines Day Massacre is whole a lot of fun, overflowing with guilty pleasures, mostly in the songs the bands chose to cover. Old Boy gave WHAM!'s "Careless Whisper" the Massey-Ferguson mash-up. And Eddie Nebula and The Plague nailed a couple

New chick on the scene: City Newspaper's very own Jen Graney's soft contralto cut through the caffeinated bizz-buzz at Boulder Coffee when she warmed the stage for big boss man El Destructo. Her songs were riveting and dark, like Mazzy Star without the reverb (or the heroin) or Velvet Underground pal Nico without the atonality (or the heroin). Skipped the bean scene for some High Fidelity, where The Meddling Kids rocked the joint as a trio with one man down from kennel cough. The girls down front dig it tight, bright, crunchy, and loud. So do I.The Dynamics were wailin'