Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cameron's Best Set Lists


Thanks to TheUncool for drawing our attention to this article from the December 2011 issue of Filter Magazine.
Cameron [Crowe] shares some of his favorite concert set lists in the December 2011 issue of Filter magazine. He discusses the reasons for each inclusion along with the actual scan of the set list. Selections include Pearl Jam, Joni Mitchell, U2, Eddie Vedder, Simon and Garfunkel and My Morning Jacket. I’ve attached the article for your viewing pleasure.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Canadian Bootleg Offerings Now Complete


You can now complete your collection.  Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver are now available in the Goods Section.  Where are the East Troy shows?  Rumors of limited edition packaging abound!

Pearl Jam Supports Blessings in a Backpack

PJ20 - 9.3.2011 - Alpine Valley, East Troy WI



Pearl Jam recently donated $50,000, via the Vitalogy Foundation, to the Blessings in a Backpack program which will help feed kids at Wileman Elementary School in Delavan, WI for three years. 


If you'd like to help yourself, you can donate at http://www.blessingsinabackpack.org or at any charity listed on the Pearl Jam Activism page.

PJ Song Lyric Tournament: Matches 73-80 (voting 11/29-12/1)

Voting is open through Wed. 12/1

73. Let the sun shine and burn away my past/Three days and maybe longer, won't even know I've left
vs.
We all got scars /they should have em too

74. And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass/of what was everything.
vs.
Seek my part/ devote myself/my small self/like a book amongst the many on a shelf

75. With heavy breath, awakened regrets/Back pages and days alone that could have been spent, together/but we were miles apart/Every inch between us becomes light years now
vs.
Stunned by my own reflection/It's looking back, sees me too clearly

76. Who's kidding? Rainy day, one-way ticket headstone/An occupation overthrown, a whisper through a megaphone
vs.
And the young they can lose hope because they can't see beyond today/The wisdom that the old can't give away.

77. They said that timing was everything/made him want to be everywhere/there’s a lot to be said for nowhere
vs.
Model, role model, roll some models in blood/get some flesh to stick so they look like us.

78. I changed by not changing at all
vs.
No time to be void, or save up on life/you gotta spend it all

79. And though he's too big a man to say/There's a fear they'll soon be parting ways
vs.
I am lost/I am no guide/But I am by your side/I am right by your side

80. I’m a thief/I’m a liar/Here’s my church I sing in the choir
vs.
I've seen the home inside your head/All locked doors and unmade beds

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Pearl Jam Radio: The Ed Interview

Pearl Jam Curitiba, Brazil 11-9-11

Ed and The Rob sat down before Thursday's Mexico City show to talk about Pearl Jam's South American tour and the band's career and songwriting.  You can download it here, or thanks to our forum's user, Riot Actor 25, you can read the summary:
  • Recent shows have been lots of fun with crazy crowds, but they haven't been that political out of respect to the countries they've played, although Eddie's been reading everything he can about Occupy Wall Street. 
  • Eddie's spent some of his time recording in his room when not surfing. 
  •  A crew member went to the hotel he'd stayed in the last time PJ was in South America and was able to find the drugs he'd hidden 6 years ago. 
  • Of The Earth might never be properly recorded and included on an album, only left to live performances. 
  • Because their lives are busier with other obligations, songwriting has to be done a little faster or they just have to find ways to produce things in shorter time frames. Backspacer was recorded quickly and they were happy with it, but he acknowledged that quick records might eventually suffer from poor quality. 
  • Seeing the West Memphis 3 walk free was one of the most powerful moments of his life. 
  • Due to the elevation, they joke around about including Thin Air and Just Breathe in the sets. Eddie mentions Thin Air should've been a single with a video, but that Stone doesn't care for it anymore.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Cameron Crowe Coming to Pearl Jam Radio Tomorrow

Since you're already tuning into SiriusXM's Pearl Jam Radio tomorrow at 2pm for a broadcast of today's show in Mexico, you might as well turn on the radio a couple of hours earlier.

photo credit: TwoFeetThick
According to The Uncool, you'll be able to catch a discussion with Cameron Crowe.
Cameron will be the guest on Pearl Jam Radio this holiday weekend discussing all things Pearl Jam Twenty. You must have Sirus/XM to listen to it live. But fear not, it will show up on iTunes a few days later. Here’s the summary of what to expect.


Inside Pearl Jam Twenty: A Conversation with Cameron Crowe
Fri. 11/25 12pm ET
Rebroadcasts: Sat. 11/26 9 am ET, Sat 11/26 6 pm ET, Sun 11/27 12 pm ET, Sun 11/27 9 pm ET, Monday 11/28 6 pm ET


Pearl Jam Radio presents an in-depth look at the band’s year-long 20th anniversary celebrations with acclaimed director, filmmaker and longtime friend of the band Cameron Crowe. Hosted by Pearl Jam Radio’s The Rob, this exclusive special features an intimate conversation with Crowe about his new Pearl Jam documentary PJ20, the creation of the film’s accompanying soundtrack, and Crowe’s overall thoughts on the band’s influence and legacy. Plus, hear Pearl Jam music hand-selected by Crowe himself. (1 hr, 10 min)

November 24: Pearl Jam in México, D.F

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

In Time for Black Friday: PJ20 Vinyl

The long-awaited Pearl Jam Twenty Soundtrack vinyl has arrived in the Ten Club Goods Section.  Hope you left space for it on your list for Santa, and I hope Santa is a Ten Club member because it's limited to members only.  The triple-vinyl package rings in at $50.
PEARL JAM TWENTY SOUNDTRACK VINYL LP.
LIMITED EDITION
MEMBERS ONLY. LIMIT 1 PER MEMBER.
The soundtrack to the acclaimed documentary Pearl Jam Twenty is finally available on gorgeous limited-edition triple 180-gram vinyl, pressed at RTI. The package comes with a 20-page full-color 12" x 12" booklet (with introduction by director Cameron Crowe), and each LP is housed in a full-color inner sleeve with stills from the film. The jacket is a rare double-gatefold sleeve, filled with hundreds of images from throughout the band's career.
Vinyl will begin shipping on or before 11/30/11.

Danny Clinch's Discovery Inn for iPad



If you're a big fan of Danny Clinch (and what Pearl Jam fan isn't), you'll certainly enjoy his new iPad app, Discovery Inn, based on his 1998 book by the same name.  The $2.99 app offers "a photographic journey through music history" narrated by Danny himself.  Danny recently spoke with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
“I never imagined when I put together the book for ‘Discovery Inn’ (in 1998) that there would come a moment in the future where the images, stories and cameras I used would turn into an interactive experience,” Clinch said in a news release.


“This is an opportunity for me to share the unique and never-before-seen outtakes, contact sheets, polaroids and stories that shaped this time of my life and era of music. It takes the book to a whole new level.”

Canadian Bootlegs Now Available


Bootlegs from Pearl Jam's 2011 Canadian Tour have started to become available in the Ten Club Goods Section.  Five of the ten shows (Winnipeg, Hamilton, Montreal, Toronto 9/12, and Ottawa) are now available  as CD sets ($16.98) or digital downloads ($9.99 mp3/$14.99 flac).  Remember, you can also get Toronto 9/11 for free from Google Music.

No word yet on when to expect more shows.

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Half Full




(A Guided Tour of Riot Act)

1/2 FULL



½ Full is a great example of how track listing matters. If this song closes the album it is much easier to read Riot Act as a positive, hopeful record—a dark journey that sees light at the end. Musically there is a muscular playfulness to the song, and it sounds like they’re having a great time recording the song. It lacks the seriousness and the weight found in Red Mosquito (its sister song musically), almost as if to say ‘fuck it’. There is a sense in which the music tells us not to take it all so personally, that our problems aren’t quite as weighty or troubling as we think they are. It is almost dismissive—reminiscent of a line at the end of Avenue Q (“George Bush…is only for now”). There’s no dawn in ½ Full, but there’s a willingness to say up all night drinking until it comes. We may be in the midst of the blackouts of Bu$hleaguer, but there’s nothing that stops us from singing until the lights are turned back on. If Riot Act ends here we have a different record.

But of course it doesn’t, and the lyrical content undermines the abandon of the music. ½ Full is, like so much of Riot Act, a document of defeat, and the music is just an attempt to shield us from its reality. There’s a few things to notice here. For starters, the scope is much larger than the rest of Riot Act. This isn’t a song about the self, the community, or even the nation. It’s a song about the state of the world, that the smoldering, ruined domain of Kings Bush and Cheney that grace the cover may be much larger than we think. Riot Act was written in 2002 and Eddie was likely still under the sway of Daniel Quinn, as there are important elements of his thought in the lyrics. The song starts out affirming our own comparative insignificance—the reminder that in the grand scheme of our planetary history we don’t matter all that much, and this moment doesn’t matter all that much, as well as the implicit condemnation that we put ourselves at risk when we forget that. It’s an indictment of our hubris as a people, and of Bush and company in particular (the rich and powerful and their insatiable, restless desire for more, and their willingness to use and abuse the rest of us in their attempt to acquire it).

But at the same time ½ Full is a fight song. There is no middle anymore. You have to take a side. You have to commit. You must be willing to take responsibility for the world we’ve made and the world we want to live in. In this respect ½ Full is more a call to arms than the call to apathy that is so tempting in dark times.

Therefore, the last lyrics become critically important, and undermine both the optimism in the music and the need for engagement in the lyrics. There is a broad recognition that something has gone wrong and something needs to be done, but there is also no agency. At the critical moment, at the last high point on the record, Eddie retreats. The world needs to be saved for sure, but SOMEONE else needs to do it. I can’t. So ½ Full becomes less about action and more about faith—a hope that someone else will come along and do what needs to be done because we no longer have any confidence in our ability to save ourselves. We’re left with nothing but a blind sort of desperate hope for salvation because we’ve lost faith in ourselves.

OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES: 
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None

OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
Backspacer



Tuesday, November 22, 2011

All That's Sacred, Episode #86

All That's Sacred, Episode #86 is now available.



Pearl Jam wraps their tour south of the border on Thursday with a Thanksgiving fiesta in Mexico City. Unless they have some last minute change of heart for a hometown anniversary gig, this will effectively put the exclamation point on the year that has been PJ20.

This week also marks the beginning of the holiday season here in the States. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and the weather is getting crappier. Time for a little reflection and congregation. ATS #86 is a listener-suggested theme for such an occasion.

Thanks for the continued interest and participation in this here podcast. The ATS experiment remains high on the list of what I'm grateful for this holiday weekend. Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Cheers! Donny

Be Thankful for Free Bootlegs!



If you bought your copy of Backspacer from the Ten Club, and you've been upset that Target shoppers got some goodies that you missed out on, ... you can stop yer' whining.  Put your Ten Club Edition Backspacer into your computer, and there will be two bootlegs waiting for you.


The Ten Club CD version of Backspacer now includes bootlegs available for download.

Select 2 concerts out of these 10 to download via the Backspacer CD.

Berlin August 15, 2009
Vancouver September 25, 2009
LA October 7, 2009
Philadelphia October 30, 2009
Philadelphia October 31, 2009
Boston May 17, 2010
Cleveland May 9, 2010
Belfast June 23 2010
New York May 21, 2010
Lisbon July 10, 2010
For CD support go here: http://www.pearljambackspacer.com/cdfaq.html

Coming to a SiriusXM Station Near You ...



This Thanksgiving, you can be thankful for Pearl Jam in Mexico!  From PearlJam.com:
Tune in to Pearl Jam Radio (channel 22) on Fri Nov. 25 at 2pm ET for an exclusive broadcast of the final show from Pearl Jam's 2011 Tour, recorded live on Thanksgiving Day in Mexico City. For more information, visit http://bitly.com/siriuspj

Monday, November 21, 2011

Pearl Jam Lyric Tournament: Round II Part I

Voting is open 11/21-11/23 on the Red Mosquito forums

65. Under your tongue/I'm like a tab/I will give you what you're not supposed to have
vs.
Escape is never the safest path

66. Are you getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
vs.
Life has nothing to do with killing time

67. Sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky/a human being that was given to fly
vs.
I let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back/now in time I've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck

68. Standing like a statue/A chin of stone, a heart of clay
vs.
I smile, but who am I kidding?

69. It's egg rolling thick and heavy/All this past we carry
vs.
Mondays were made to fall, lost on a road he knew by heart/It was like a book he read in his sleep, endlessly

70. Just be darling, and I will be too/Faithful to you
vs.
And wherever you've gone/and wherever we might go/It don't seem fair/you seemed to like it here

71. I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down
vs.
Everything has chains, absolutely nothing's changed

72. she holds the hand that holds her down/she will rise above
vs.
We were but stones/your light made us stars

An Open Letter to the Producers of All Encompassing Trip

To Whom It May Concern,

All Encompassing Trip, the call-in radio show hosted by Tim Bierman and The Rob on SiriusXM’s Pearl Jam Radio, was one of the greatest developments for Pearl Jam fans in recent memory.  We here at TheSkyIScrape featured its inception in our Top Ten Pearl Jam Moments of 2010.  It gave fans a window into the management of the band, stirred up excitement about upcoming music, products, and events (did you do a Google search for “pearl jam festival” they day after Kelly Curtis’ guest appearance?).  We tuned in for every episode and spreading news and discussions across the fan community.  I doubt that excitement for the band has been higher since Pearl Jam’s early career.

Two months ago, you aired the last episode of All Encompassing Trip.  We don’t pretend to know and understand all the various stipulations and intricacies that have to fall into place for a globally syndicated call-in show to air or how hard it is to do that on the road, but please take a moment to hear the plea of your fans.  In the words of a great songwriter, from wherever you are … come back.

Since you’ve left the air, Pearl Jam has completed their Canadian Tour and has visited five South American countries.  Fans want to ask the hosts and band members about the tour.  They want to scream praise for the band’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon.  They want to discuss the four hours of bonus features in the Pearl Jam Twenty DVD and BluRay.  Those that aren’t, want to ask if there will be more of those boxed sets available in the future.  

In the end, the return of All Encompassing Trip may not be planned or possible.  If that’s the case, we will have to deal with it an find closure in our own way, most likely in a stack of bootlegs and a cold bottle of Faithfull Ale.  But if it’s possible … if you can … take the reigns.  Steer us toward the clear.

Sincerely yours,
TheSkyIScrape.com

Thursday, November 17, 2011

New Album Status

Pearl Jam Buenos Aires, Argentina 11-13-11
Last week, Mike dealt a vicious blow to TheSkyIScrape's prediction that Pearl Jam's tenth album will be released on May 22nd, 2012.  In an interview during the band's stop in Brazil, Mike said that the band has seven songs complete, but won't be heading back into the studio until March.
“… I don’t know about it right now. I think we’ll take a break with the reissues,” McCready said. “I thought that we would keep doing it, but maybe it will take another year before continuing this process. At the end we’ll probably remaster everything and Brendan O’Brien will remix some albums. But in this moment we are in the process of composing an album, we have seven songs … and we’ll work on the rest of them next year in March.”
Am I revising my prediction?  Not quite yet.  Not because I feel that strongly about May 22nd, but because I'm too lazy to think of a better date.  Until then, keep your eyes open and your ears ready.  2012 is going to be a banner year for Pearl Jam!

Pearl Jam Lyric Tournament: Brackets H

Voting is open 11/17-11/20


Bracket G

49. If I’d been taught from the beginning/would my fears now be winning?
vs.
My lips are shaken, my nails are bit off/it's been a month since I've heard myself talk

50. I am myself, like you somehow
vs.
Swallow seeds on my death bed/Dig a hole in the garden,

51. All this hope and nowhere to go
vs.
I'll swallow poison, until I grow immune/I will scream my lungs out till it fills this room

52. Before I disappear, whisper in my ear/Give me something to echo in my unknown futures here
vs.
Tidal waves don't beg forgiveness/crash, then on their way

53. the ocean is full because everyone's crying/the full moon is looking for friends at high tide
vs.
I wish I'd seen the place/But no one's ever taken me

54. watched from the window with a red mosquito
vs.
No matter how cold the winter, there's a spring time ahead

55. Champagne breakfast for everyone.
vs.
Who made, who made up, made up the myth/That we were born to be covered in bliss?

56. She knows their future's burning/but she can smile just the same
vs.
nature has its own religion/gospel from the land

Bracket H

57. The waiting drove me mad/You're finally here and I'm a mess.
vs.
Ransom paid the devil/he whispers pleasing words

58. Do no wrong, so clean cut/Dirty his hands, it comes right off
vs.
Have no fear but for falling down/so look out below I am falling now

59. Turns the bow back/tows and drops the line/Puts his faith in love and tremor Christ
vs.
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life/I know you'll be a star/ in somebody else's sky,/but why, why, why can't it be/can't it be mine?

60. All that's sacred comes from youth/Dedications naive and true
vs.
I would've fallen from the sky, 'til you/Parachutes have opened now.

61. Oh please let it rain today/This city's so filthy, like my mind in ways.
vs.
All the advantage this life's got on me/Picture a cup in the middle of the sea

62. All five horizons revolved around her soul
vs.
Jeremy spoke in class today

63. I've understood feelings and I've understood words/But how could you be taken away?
vs.
I was alone and far away when I heard the band start playing

64.
I've lived all these lives, it's been wonderful at night/I will live forever, you can't keep me here.
vs.
It's a hopeless situation/ and I'm starting to believe/that this hopeless situation/is what I'm trying to achieve

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Toronto, 9-11-11

Pearl Jam at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, September 11, 2011.  


Today, you can own it before you can buy it.  Through partnerships with several major record labels, including Sony, Google has rolled out their new version of Google Music.  As part of the announcement, you can now get Toronto, Sept. 11, 2011 bootleg for free use with a Google Music account.

Critical Krass

The Ten Club has a new t-shirt titled, Pearl Jam Critical Krass, available in the Good section for $24.99 + $7.50 domestic shipping and handling.  Availability is limited through December 31, 2011.

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Bu$hleaguer




(A Guided Tour of Riot Act)

BU$HLEAGUER

Bu$hleaguer, like Green Disease, is one of the most important tracks on Riot Act, and, like Green Disease, it unfortunately falls a bit short. It is so critical because it is Eddie’s chance to really lay into Bush, the man who embodies everything that Riot Act rebels against (and ultimately succumbs to). He is the man responsible for the collapse of the band’s world, and all the attendant fear, suspicion, confusion that follows. Here is the man who made the love and solidarity that anchors a social existence nearly impossible to come by. What should follow needs to be a seething indictment, and the song ultimately falls short (and in a way this is fitting and makes sense, but it is no less disappointing as a result

Musically Bu$hleaguer is excellent. The music is amongst the most sinister pieces the band has ever written—it stalks the listener, it looms and threatens. There is an excellent counterpoint in the seemingly casual, almost sing songy garden party music of the verses before moving back to the ominous music of the chorus. The atmosphere in this song is incredible, and is unjustly forgotten since we tend to associate atmosphere with the spacier effects of a Sleight of Hand or Can’t Keep.

Vocally Eddie is hit or miss on this. The spoken word part lacks any real sense of gravity, but that may be deliberate—a casualness that matches the banal music of the verse. Overall, however, I think the effect doesn’t quite work. It comes across as too monotonous—arguably it works when the music is casual, but the start of the song needs to have more at stake. The pre-chorus and chorus is a lot more effective. The distorted vocals take the listener back to Help Help and that similar feeling of the bottom dropping out and the world no longer making sense. There is a plaintive, almost pathetic quality to the chorus itself, with the distorted vocals begging not for accountability (which requires more assertiveness and confidence than the song can muster) but answers. Something went horribly wrong, and he just wants to know what. You can almost picture him curled up in a fetal position as the song ends, rocking himself back and forth murmuring ‘change’ to himself. He ultimately finds himself overwhelmed by the object of his contemplation. The Bush phenomena is too big, too destructive to resist.

The song pulls that part off. But the lyrics (outside of the chorus) are just not any good. There are some clever baseball lines in the second verse, but those expressions existed before Eddie appropriated them. The third verse, which should be an indictment of the times, a grand statement of outrage and disgust, is buried in a bunch of abstract metaphors, none of which are really of any consequence.

The chorus is more effective. The blackout phrasing is nicely done, and the vocal melody crawls along nicely. There are allusions to the rolling blackouts of California and the Enron debacle, that image of our world darkening, both literally and figuratively if we think of it in terms of notions of accountability and the like. There is an encroaching darkness, and we are powerless to resist—at best we can offer that weak condemnation that Bush is a liar, failing to deliver what he promised—but in the face of the social, political, and above all human costs of the administration this comes across as underwhelming, more than anything else a testament to the totality of Bush’s consequence and the destruction that followed in its wake.

OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES: 
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None

OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
Backspacer




November 16: Pearl Jam in Santiago

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pearl Jam Lyric Tournament: Brackets E+F

Voting is open 11/15-1//17

Bracket E

33. Can’t buy what I want because its free
vs.
I don't question our existence/I just question our modern needs

34. Why would you wanna hurt me?/So frightened of your pain
vs.
I know I was born and I know that I'll die/the in between is mine

35. I'm like an opening band for the sun.
vs.
"Turn the jukebox up," he said/Dancing in irreverence/"Play C3, let the song protest."

36. I've lived all these lives/like an ocean in disguise
vs.
One man stands on the edge of the ocean/a beacon on dry land/Eyes upon the horizon/in the dark before the dawn

37. A truant finds home/ and a wish to hold on/But there's a trapdoor in the sun
vs.
Behind her eyes there's curtains/ and they've been closed to hide the flames

38. If I knew where it was I would take you there/there's much more than this
vs.
Like a tear in all we know/once dissolved we are free to grow

39. Tell the captain this boat's not safe and we're drowning/Turns out he's the the one making waves.
vs.
I’ve got memories/I’ve got shit/so much it don’t show

40. Promises are whispered/ in the age of darkness/Want to be enlightened like I want to be told the end
vs.
I want to race with the sundown/I want a last breath that I don’t let out

Bracket F


41. All the photographs are peeling, and colors turn to gray
vs.
The winded eves and sideways snow/His eminence has yet to show.

42. she lies and says she's in love with him
vs.
He still gives his love he just gives it away/The love he receives is the love that is saved

43. If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done.
vs.
this broken wheel is coming undone/and the road's exploded

44. Saw things so much clearer/Once you were in my rearviewmirror
vs.
I sometimes realize I can only be as good as you'll let me

45. Little secrets, tremors, turned to quake/The smallest oceans still get big, big waves
vs.
Things were different then/All is different now/I tried to explain/I hope this works somehow.

46. I just want to hold on and know I'm worth your love/Enough/I don't think there's such a thing.
vs.
Blackout weaves its way through the cities

47. And love/what a different life had I not found this love with you.
vs.
For every tool they lend us, a loss of Independence

48. Don't mean to push, but I'm being shoved
vs.
Oh I will stare the sun down, until my eyes go blind

November 13: Pearl Jam in Buenos Aires

Friday, November 11, 2011

November 11: Pearl Jam in Porto Alegre


Estádio Passo D'Areia | Digital Blending

PJ Song Lyrc Tournament: Brackets C+D

Voting is open 11/9-11/10



Bracket C

17. Let the sun shine and burn away my past/Three days and maybe longer, won't even know I've left
vs.
Artificial tear/vessel stabbed/next up, volunteers

18. Take my hand, not my picture/spilled my tincture.
vs.
We all got scars /they should have em too

19. And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass/of what was everything.
vs.
I saw the strain creep in/He seems distracted and i know just what is gonna happen next/Before his first step/He's off again

20. I remember when I swore I knew everything.
vs.
Seek my part/ devote myself/my small self/like a book amongst the many on a shelf

21. Once divided/nothing left to subtract/Some words when spoken/can't be taken back
vs.
With heavy breath, awakened regrets/Back pages and days alone that could have been spent, together/but we were miles apart/Every inch between us becomes light years now

22. Stunned by my own reflection/It's looking back, sees me too clearly
vs.
Are you woman enough to be my man?/bandaged hand in hand

23. Who's kidding? Rainy day, one-way ticket headstone/An occupation overthrown, a whisper through a megaphone
vs.
Given two lost wings/A beautiful star sea.

24. And the young they can lose hope because they can't see beyond today/The wisdom that the old can't give away.
vs.
Dream the dreams of other men/you'll be no ones rival

Bracket D


25. You’re always saying you’re too weak to be strong
vs.
They said that timing was everything/made him want to be everywhere/there’s a lot to be said for nowhere

26. All the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives/choosing shiny ones instead
vs.
Model, role model, roll some models in blood/get some flesh to stick so they look like us.

27. I'll wait up in the dark/For you to speak to me
vs.
I changed by not changing at all.

28. No time to be void, or save up on life/you gotta spend it all
vs.
I will hold the candle, till it burns up my arm/I'll keep takin' punches, until their will grows tired

29. And though he's too big a man to say/There's a fear they'll soon be parting ways
vs.
Somewhere there's a siren singing a song only he hears

30. I am lost/I am no guide/But I am by your side/I am right by your side
vs.
Alone, listless, breakfast table in an otherwise empty room/Young girl, violins, center of her own attention

31. Feel the sky blanket you with gems and rhinestones
vs.
I’m a thief/I’m a liar/Here’s my church I sing in the choir

32. I've seen the home inside your head/All locked doors and unmade beds
vs.
Hold on to the thread/The currents will shift

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Eddie Vedder to Guest on Portlandia

Photo stolen from Rebekah Johnson
If you're a Pearl Jam fan who happens to also be a fan of the Independent Film Channel's show, Portlandia, staring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, it's time for you to rejoice.  It seems that Eddie will have a guest spot on the upcoming season.
As if the show wasn't cool enough already, Rolling Stone reports that Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and incredible - yet massively underrated - songstress Joanna Newsom are set to appear as guests on the upcoming second season of the IFC sketch comedy show "Portlandia".

November 9: Pearl Jam in Curitiba

Monday, November 7, 2011

Pearl Jam Lyric Tournament: Voting Begins



Hi All


The Pearl Jam Lyric Tournament has begun. Voting for Brackets A+B is up for today and tomorrow (11/7-11/8). You can vote on the Red Mosquito forums


Bracket A


1. Under your tongue/I'm like a tab/I will give you what you're not supposed to have
vs.
Anxious is the present/Unwrap your gifts, take your time


2. I've got scratches all over my arms/One for each day since I fell apart
vs.
Escape is never the safest path


3. Are you getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
vs.
A night bird is following you all the time.


4. Life has nothing to do with killing time
vs.
Eyes, no eyes, there's no difference/Every life is looking in


5. Sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky/a human being that was given to fly
vs.
It's like she's lost her invitation to the party on earth/And she's standing outside hating everyone here


6. Not unlike a friend that politely drags you down.
vs.
I let go of a rope, thinking that's what held me back/now in time I've realized, it's now wrapped around my neck


7. Sometimes I burn like a dot on the sun
vs.
Standing like a statue/A chin of stone, a heart of clay


8. I smile but who am I kidding?
vs.
I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love


Bracket B


9. It's egg rolling thick and heavy/All this past we carry.
vs.
Now you got both sides claiming killing in God's name/But God is nowhere to be found, conveniently.


10. Mondays were made to fall, lost on a road he knew by heart/It was like a book he read in his sleep, endlessly
vs.
I guess it was the beatings/ made me wise/but I am not about to give thanks, or apologize


11. Don't see some men as half empty/see 'em half fulla shit
vs.
Just be darling, and I will be too/Faithful to you


12. And wherever you've gone/and wherever we might go/It don't seem fair/you seemed to like it here
vs.
I was the fool because I thought I thought the world/Turns out the world thought me


13. I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down
vs.
Like a cloud dropping rain I'm discarding all thought/I'll dry up, leaving puddles on the ground.


14. Tried to endure/what i could not forgive
vs.
Everything has chains/Absolutely nothing’s changed


15. she holds the hand that holds her down/she will rise above
vs.
Looks like lightning in my child's eyes.


16. There was a solemn man, watched his twilight disappear/Altered by a fallen eagle, a warning sign /He sensed worry could be strength/With a plan that said, "Time for--evacuation."
vs.
We were but stones/your light made us stars

Sunday, November 6, 2011

All That's Sacred, Episode #85

All That's Sacred, Episode #85 is now available.



Well, it's that time of year again... Election day is Tuesday and I thought I'd try a little experiment with U.S. political history to inform and inspire. I'll let you listen and decide whether it ultimately works or not. For me the exercise showed that for as much as things have progressed and changed in this country, too many things continue to stay the same. That might be enough temptation for some to let their apathy overcome them and sit this election out. I have a hard time resigning myself to the notion that my vote doesn't matter. I'll be educating myself and making my voice heard and I encourage you to do the same.

Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy ATS #85.

Cheers! Donny

November 6: Pearl Jam in Rio De Janeiro

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Jack Irons - Outer Space Dream




Jack Irons was recently interviewed by Modern Drummer as part of a three-part series of articles.  The first article focuses on his recording of the video for Outer Space Dream off of his Blue Manatee EP, a "live-concept" video that you might expect to see on some future Jack Irons tour.  You can listen to more of Blue Manatee by picking up the EP at iTunes, Amazon, or the Ten Club.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A Guided Tour of Riot Act: Help Help




(A Guided Tour of Riot Act)

HELP HELP

Help Help continues the final run of social commentary on the album after the inward turn running from I Am Mine through You Are, and although this is one of the weaker stretches of the record (which is a shame since it is thematically so important) Help Help is fairly strong song and one of the more interesting musical pieces on Riot Act.



Musically the song is perfect for what it is trying to do. Help Help is a musical breakdown—not an emotional breakdown as much as a loss of certainty and stability, the collapse of everything familiar and dependable into a frantic, swirling, sinister existence in which we lack any touchstones, any way to ground ourselves and rebuild---it’s all movement and collapse with no base.


The song starts out peaceful enough, but everything is slightly off kilter, like it’s about to fall apart even though on the surface everything seems fine. I really like the guitar effects coloring the song during the verses, which remind me of a perverted and demented bird song in this fake pastoral scene. It all builds nicely to the chorus—there isn’t a complete juxtaposition since the observer in the song knows that things are wrong and isn’t totally surprised when things fall apart—it’s like a logical conclusion rather than a break. Matt and Mike deserve some special credit for their performances in this one—matt keeps everything off balance during the verse and mike does some really great work, in the chorus especially, but you have to listen to hear it. Nothing stands out here by design—the singer is so lost, so confused, that nothing has any clarity anymore.



Eddie’s vocals play nicely into this setup, as they share the same basic distortion as the music, the veneer of peace and calm built on unstable foundations. The vocal melody is pleasant enough, the lyrics are clam, yet you know that something’s wrong—that it is all an illusion. Usually Eddie conveys this in his lyrics or his delivery—here they do it through the distortion effects, and the break from past practices makes it more striking. It is a nuanced and textured song, but it isn’t very subtle.



Lyrically Jeff (like Stone) is usually hit or miss, but Help Help works, given the songs intentions. The lyrics reflect the complete and total alienation of the subject. He no longer wants to fight. He no longer wants to resist. He wants the storybook. He wants the lies. He wants to go along with everyone else into this pleasant lies, easy answers, and attractive illusions that the rest of his country has embraced. It’s far better to surrender then to resist alone.



Understood this way there are two ways to interpret the ‘help me’ cry in the chorus. He’s asking to be saved from himself (help me to stop thinking these nasty unpatriotic, un-American thoughts—make me just like you) and to be saved from the illusions and the lies (help me to stop believing the story, give me the strength to keep thinking the things that I’m told are unpatriotic and un-American since in these circumstances they represent the truer, higher form of patriotism that others are so easily threatened by).



It’s telling then, that the song ultimately abandons the help me chorus for the outro—there is a moment of clarity, or rejection, in the bridge—a recognition that the story is dangerously seductive, grounded as it is in hate and fear, emotions that are always easier than love and courage, and that this is no way for people to live. The song builds to a frantic conclusion musically as he tries to claw his way out of the illusion—rejecting politics of fear and division (the man they call my enemy I’ve seen his eyes he looks just like me…a mirror---referring to Muslims, his fellow Americans, or anyone with whom we share a common humanity). People with power so often use the idea of division and difference to prevent those they wish to rule to build the bridges and bonds of solidarity that are capable of resisting that power.



Help Help culminates with a desperate attempt to grasp at that truth (clearer…clearer…not my enemy…not my enemy…) but since this is Riot Act, and ultimately a document of defeat, there is no resolution. As with almost every song on this record the subject knows the truth, but sometimes knowing the truth is enough. The clarity isn’t enough to overcome all the forces working to beat it down. It can’t overcome the confusion and alienation. It’s a false catharsis, like the painting The Scream. The subject can rage against the way we’re divided against each other but he can’t put the pieces back together at the end, just like the subject of The Scream can yell all he wants without actually putting the picture back into focus. At best it gives him the personal clarity needed to level the accusations in Bushleaguer, but it is a private enlightenment, nothing that we can build on.


This is, I think, what Eddie is trying to get at with Green Disease, but in the end it lacks the immediacy of a World Wide Suicide, the bite of a Comatose or a Do the Evolution, the righteousness of Grievance, the sympathy of Insignificance, or the wisdom of Marker. Green Disease is certainly an earnest song, but in the end (because of the music perhaps) it is a little too petulant and maybe a little too obvious to pull it off.

OTHER SONGS IN THIS SERIES: 
Can't Keep
Save You
Love Boat Captain
Cropduster
Ghost
I Am Mine
Thumbing My Way
You Are
Get Right
Green Disease
Help Help
Bu$hleaguer
1/2 Full
Arc
All Or None

OTHER GUIDED TOUR SERIES:
Vs.
Vitalogy
Binaural
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