Levi Takes California

Today Levi Leipheimer won his third Tour of California in as many years. This is an amazing race, and this year saw the strongest field ever.

Levi did everything right--climbed fast, attacked explosively, hung on when he had to, stayed (mostly) out of trouble. It was inspiring to see him launch one on Bonny Doon, answering all us critics who have thought him something of a boring wheel-follower. He's one hell of a strong and smart bike racer.

Philo!

I have to admit that I grabbed this off one of Deeds' posts, but it's too cool to not put up just cause of that.

Restiform Bodies

Saturday night's show at the Bouquet was up against a huge crowd-draw out at the VAC, so the odds were stacked against a huge turnout. Even so, I was disappointed at the numbers there for this lineup. Boise needs more shows like these, more of this brainy progressive hip hop and DJ work. Now that we're actually getting some, let's hope folks start showing up for it.

As for the show itself, every act was outstanding. Openers Ninth Cloud were smooth and hard, two MCs rapping and singing over some killer tracks from their third member, who left his consoles to get some words in too. Egadz was probably the biggest eye-opener of the night. I was unfamiliar with his work, but he blew me away from the first tune he played. A big burly bearded dude with a huge console spread out before him, Egadz hammered out beats and melodies without ever engaging a laptop.

Restiform Bodies was one MC and one DJ. It was obvious they were a bit off by the size of the crowd, but they gave it all they had and worked the folks that were there into a mini frenzy. They worked their way through much of the stuff on TV Loves You Back, and for the most part it came off great live. Bobby Trendy and Panic Shopper were strong moments, and the DJ beat drums along with his console, especially at the end when the MC joined him for some instrumental tracks before calling it a night.

Great show. I wish more people could have seen it. The Bouquet stands to become a really good venue for this town. So let's start going there.

Happy Friday

Thanks JB.

New on the Range

It's a treasure trove, a cornucopia, a veritable fountain of new music on the Range Life today.

I've got new tracks from The National and Superchunk, plus stuff from Beirut, Aether, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Restiform Bodies, Glasvegas, DJ Signify, The Tasteful Nudes, Asobi Seksu, Obits, Odd Nosdam, Telefon Tel Aviv, Phosphorecent, and a crapload more. Tune in at www.radioboise.org.

Tour Coverage

In case y'all didn't know this, you can follow the Tour of California live online at http://tracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

The site is great--live video, GPS, course profile with moving icons, a play by play ticker, and lots more stuff. Very cool. Now if only the Tour de France would join the 20th century and offer a similar setup.

Nevermind what I said before...

Roland Burris is a lunatic and needs to get the hell out of the news. As the Tribune says, dude needs to resign.

He didn't talk to Blago, then he did. He didn't raise money for him, then he did. He can't decide what the truth is, so he just makes it up when he gets caught in a lie, hoping that the benefit of the doubt will carry him into office.

He's becoming a stain on the party, a pain in the political ass, and he's making Illinois Democrats look even worse (who'd have thought that was possible?!)

Anyway, geddafuggout already.

Enough is Enough

Rising waters, increasingly violent storms and natural disasters, dire long-term predictions--obviously, we feel ok ignoring all these things. Hell, it seems we don't even really care about polar bears.

But f*cking with the penguins? That's too much. From an article in Discovery:

Argentina's Magellanic penguins are moving north, laying their eggs later than they used to, and struggling -- often unsuccessfully -- to feed their chicks, all as a result of climate change.

Powder Day!

OK, so maybe I wasn't thinking about the bike.

Me and John Betts put in a great afternoon today. And that means big thanks to Cathy and Joy for letting us ski on Valentine's Day.

7" of new snow over night, and it's still snowing up there. Heading up again in the morning. How could I not?

Leipheimer in the Hizzouse

The Tour of California gets underway today, and it looks like it's gonna be a hell of a week of racing. They've got the strongest field I've ever seen in a race on American soil, and the 2 time defending champ, Levi Leipheimer, is riding with one of the strongest teams I've ever seen anywhere.

And if you wonder whether his team is committed to him, take a look at this awesome TT bike he'll be riding.


Suddenly, it's cycling season again. That's pretty exciting--even if there are 7 new inches of snow up on the mountain today. I'll ski, but I'll be thinking about the bike.

Jamaican Gold!

Today's the final day of Special Olympics events here in Idaho, so Cathy and I headed out to the fairgrounds to watch some floor hockey medal matches.

The place was pretty packed, from the bleachers to the rink (court?) sides, with people singing and chanting and cheering on their favorite teams. We watched a bit of Russia-Hungary (Hungary took gold in D1), but were quickly swept up in the D2 gold medal match between Canada and Jamaica.

When we got there, it looked like a rout. Canada had the lead 5-0 and appeared to be doing whatever they wanted with the puck--or whatever that soft doughnut-shaped thingy they play with is called. But the tide turned, and quickly.

Shortly after we grabbed a spot behind a rowdy bunch of Trinidad and Tobago fans, Jamaican scored their first goal. Their player had run the length of the floor, through the whole Canadian team, seemingly untouched, and put it in the net. The crowd went nuts.

And Canada looked tired. There was lots of standing around on the red team, and lots of very fast movement from the green and yellow. No great passing, no amazing strategy, just push it up, dodge the defenders, and throw it at the goal. But it worked, and it kept working.

The Canadian team suddenly seemed out of breath and helpless against the speedy Jamaican onslaught. Another goal, then another, punctuated by some quality net play by the Jamaican keeper, and suddenly the score was tied at 5.

Jamaica scored to take the lead, then scored again. Canada answered with one, bringing it to 7-6. Jamaica would deny them the tie with another goal, and though Canada put another in the net, they were unable to close the gap in the final line (9 "lines" of 3 minutes each makes a match, I learned). Some confusion in the final seconds saw 3 seconds added to the clock and a keeper switch for Jamaica, but the green team cleared the puck and the game was done. 8-7 Jamaica.

It was an amazing and wonderful thing to see.

Rosa Sat

This is pretty great. The song is a little awkward at times, but the sentiment is no less moving for it.

Mostly I think it's important to not lose sight of how we felt about our collective potential between November and January 21st.

Stay inspired.

New on the Range

Lots of great new stuff for Range Life this week. I've got this awesome record by Phosphorescent (see post below), along with a great new comp of new bands, including Girls, Jumbling Towers, Man/Miracle, Victoire, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, She Keeps Bees, and much more.

Plus, I've finally got my hands on last year's Windsor for the Derby release, and other new stuff from AC Newman, Restiform Bodies, These Are Powers, Lithops, ...Trial of Dead, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Couch, and more from the Animal Collective CD and Pavement's reissue of Brighten the Corners.

So much freaking music. Tune in, 5 to 7 MST, won't you?

Phosphorescent Nelson

This album, To Willie, is really something. The solo artist who goes by Phosporescent, Matthew Houck, has done Willie Nelson justice with this set of 10 covers. Some are the well-worn standards of Willie's thousands of shows, while some are not among the most popular songs in the Red Headed Stranger's catalog, but great tracks nonetheless. Somehow, though, Houck is able to own almost all of these songs ("The Party's Over" excepted, for obvious reasons--it'd be like trying to cover "Whiskey River," and good luck with that).

But what songs.

"Walkin'" soars on lap steel and a rousing chorus, while "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way" breaks your heart with it's fluttering acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies. "I Gotta Get Drunk"stomps where "Heartaches of a Fool" offers up the most bittersweet regret.

It's no big assumption to say that these songs have great meaning for Houck, but he never slips into sentimental tribute here. He makes these songs his own while staying true to the spirit of the man who wrote them.

Really

Brilliant, especially the end.

Tuft as Nails

This story, about Svein Tuft, is pretty amazing. DIY mountain man explorer with gobs of pure natural cycling talent gives it a full go on the pro circuit at age 31. Most careers are winding down by then, but not this guy.

He goes from pulling his 80-lb dog on a homemade trailer into the wilderness to climb mountains to riding in the Tour of California--and likely the Tour de France, along with Paris-Roubaix, for which he seems a natural.

Just when you think most pro roadies are spoiled doping douchebags, this guy comes along. Hallelujah.

Tonight: The Delta Spirit

The Delta Spirit plays the Neurolux tonight, Monday, here in Boise. I caught these guys at ACL Fest last year and they were sh*t-hot indeed. Great bluesy countrified rock with a big gorgeous piano sound.

Check out Trashcan below. (It's not really a video, just audio.)




And check them out tonight at Neurolux.

Week of the Gourd--UPDATE!!!

It may be the year of the ox, but right now in Boise it's the week of the Gourd. Austin favorite sons The Gourds are braving the Northwest's wintery climes for 3 nights in a row in Idaho.

And as if that ain't enough, check this: The Gourds, or some arrangement of the characters making up The Gourds, will play live in the Boise Community Radio studio with me during Range Life tomorrow. Not sure exactly when, but Kevin Russell's confirmed that he and whoever else he can get to come will play something for us.

Of course, they have an in-store at 7pm (see below), so there's a chance they could be running late and not be able to make it. But we'll hold our breath until that happens. Tune in 5 to 7 MST at www.radioboise.org.

Now, the schedule.

Wednesday night, 7pm, free in-store performance at the Record Exchange.

Thursday night, The Mint theater in Hailey. Buy tickets here.

Friday night, The Egyptian Theater in Boise. Buy tickets here.



In case you've been hibernating, the band's new record, Haymaker!, is a fantastic batch of country cajun rock and roll, digging deep into the musical soil of the borderlands they inhabit--both the physical ones of Texas-Louisiana-Mexico and the musical ones of rock-tex-mex-country-cajun. The greater role of keyboards and electric guitar lightens the mood and firms up the band's roots, if that's possible.

Grab a copy while you're at the free Record Exchange show on Wednesday. And hope to see you Friday as well.

Maybe Cheney Ain't All Bad

"Organizers reported Sunday that the 44th White House Carnival was a rousing success, raising a record $800,000,066,845 for the federal government—$800 billion of which came from a dunk tank featuring former vice president Dick Cheney."

Read on.

Headlines

As usual, The Onion hits it on the head. Then and now.

January 17, 2001 headline:
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

November 5, 2008 headline:
Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job