So Why Is Matt Good on the Phone?

There was something angry about the way my cell phone vibrated on my desk.  It was Matt Good calling from New York.  He wasn't happy.

"I'm stuck in a shitty hotel across from shitty LaGuardia.  We were on the plane, ready to fly back from Toronto when the captain told us to get off.  Something about high winds in Toronto.  They're flying in a bigger plane because apparently ours was no good."

I sympathized.  "At least you're not in that awful Air Canada departure gate area," I said.  

"Yeah, but this still sucks.  I just want to get home."

Matt was on his way back to Vancouver after playing a couple fo sold out gigs in London.  This one was shot at The Lexington.  (More fan videos here.)

There was also a gig in New York at a place called Joe's.  "That was a weird one.  Usually it's gritty and cool.  But this time it was like playing for a Las Vegas audience who had only come for the buffet."

"So, um, are you calling just to pass the time before your next flight?"

"No, dumbass.  I have a new album coming out.  Wanna hear about it?"

To be continued.  Meanwhile, check out Matt's summer touring plans here.  

Sigur Ros on The Simpsons Finale This Weekend

Here's the official poster from the episode. Read about what to expect at Paste.

A Visual History of The Beastie Boys

Nice work by Juxtapoz.  They have a lot more on the Beasties here, too.  (Via Daily Swarm)

Band to Get Very, Very High with Gig Today

The Farm (not these guys from the 90s, a Nashville band) have a special gig today abour a Southwest Airlines 737.  As part of the airline's Live at 35 (as in 35,000 ft.) concert series--and in association with Taylor Guitars--the Farm will seranade travellers between Phoenix and San Diego.

The band joins a list of series performers that has included Hedley, Youngblood Hawke and ZZ Ward. Everything will appear on Southwest's blog when everyone is back on the ground.

Co-Writer of "Layla" Still Stuck in Jail

I wonder how many people remember Jim Gordon, the guy who co-wrote "Layla" with Derek and the Dominos?

About a decade after that song became such a rock staple, Gordon was convicted and jailed for killing his mother. He's been locked up ever since.  And he'll stay in jail until at least 2018.  From Rolling Stone:

Rock drummer Jim Gordon, who killed his mother in June 1983 after claiming her voice had tormented him for years, was denied parole until at least 2018 at a hearing this April. A California board panel deemed the musician "a danger to society if released from prison," citing his resistance to court-ordered medication and counseling, according to a hearing transcript obtained by Rolling Stone.

Thirty years after Gordon confessed to stabbing his 71-year-old mother to death at her North Hollywood home, he continues to shows symptoms of schizophrenia and is "medically and psychologically noncompliant," Los Angeles County deputy district attorney Alexis de la Garza told the three-member panel. "This is one of the saddest cases that we have in prison. We have an individual who is seriously psychologically incapacitated, and he is a danger when he is not taking his medication."

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