The Milkman of Human Kindness

Before his show at The Opera House on March 11, 2006, Billy Bragg performed a great solo set over at HMV in downtown Toronto during the afternoon. It was the first time I've ever seen him live and while he was feeling a little under the weather with a cold, in between sips of tea he was drinking out of a Spongebob Squarepants mug!, Billy still managed to perform a thoroughly entertaining set. While we watched Billy tune his guitar, he then stepped up to the mic and surprised us with a great cover of The Verve's "Drugs Don't Work". This turned out to be his soundcheck. He returned soonafter and proclaimed to the audience that he was 'HMV employee of the month', then picked up his guitar and performed some old classics for us including "The Milkman of Human Kindness", "A New England" and others. He played about 5 songs or so, which is actually a pretty good quantity for an instore, and possibly sensing our disappointment that it was over, granted us one last song, his British-centric version of the song "Route 66". Check out my photos from the instore, my favourite of which is the one I've posted above. Sadly, I missed his show at The Opera House that night but apparently he'll be back in Toronto in September according to Chromewaves. In the meantime, check out Chromewaves review of Billy's show at The Opera House as well as his photos from both the instore and gig. chartattack also reviews Billy's show at The Opera House.

Billy performed live today in the WYNC studios for the radio program Soundcheck. Listen here.

In keeping with the Billy Bragg theme, Jason Buckley shot this video of Billy Bragg performing "It's All About The Price Of Oil" at the Get Out the Vote Rally at the AFL-CIO building in Washington, DC on 10/22/02.

Billy supports the current OPSEU strike. He apparently even dedicated "There's Power In A Union" to the strike, during his show at The Opera House.

And just a reminder, that Billy will be performing live on Late Night With Conan O'Brien this Wednesday March 15th. [via The Late Night TV Page]

Neko Case tells chartattack that she hates the term 'alt-country'.

Neko Case mentions to London Free Press that the podcasts she's planned for her website will each feature 20 songs that she says are an "eclectic, jumbly mess" from her personal vinyl collection, including plenty of old gospel tunes.

The Los Angeles Times[Bugmenot] profiles Neko Case's career, and likens her as the female counterpart to another Chicago resident, Jeff Tweedy.

Listen to/watch the live session Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins performed for Morning Becomes Eclectic this past Friday March 10, 2006. Can't wait for her show this coming Thursday at The Opera House.

The Dears' UK label Bella Union is offering a free download of an acoustic version of "There Goes My Outfit" from the new album.

I'm looking forward to seeing Stereolab tomorrow at Phoenix. If this torrent(of Stereolab's recent show on March 8, 2006 at The Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR) is any indication, it should be a good one. Openers are Espers.

Here's a torrent(registration required) of an intimate pre-"Let It Die" Feist set at House o'Muzak House Concert in New Haven, Conneticut on March 26, 2000. It features an early version of "Leisure Suite". [last two torrent links via Largehearted Boy]

To make up for their cancelled show at Rancho Relaxo from last September, Architecture in Helsinki will be returning to Toronto for a show at Horseshoe Tavern on May 20th.