Ok, I HAVE to see this: http://www.u23dmovie.com/
We're in luck too.... the only place playing it in Virginia right now is the Virginia Air & Space Museum in Hampton. Nice! It will open in other theatres on Feb. 15. Also, check out this article in Rolling Stone about the film. I think Jay-Z is just jealous that he didn't come up with the idea.

With TV appearances on Letterman and Conan, you might already be familiar with Nicole Atkins. I hear Rufus Wainwright mixed with Jenny Lewis and Neko Case, but that's just me. Should The Tide play Nicole Atkins? Email me at music@tideradio.com if you wanna, and let me know what you think! She's definately got an original sound. Check out the below video, as well as her myspace site. How about those incredible orchestral arrangements she uses in her songs? Pretty cool... yeah?

So I went to go see Mike Doughty play at the Jewish Mother on Friday night. I was way disappointed and it had nothing to do with Mike's performance. He was great. Why does the Jewish Mother have all those tables that are so inconveniently placed? The people who were sitting, were getting mad at the people standing and they could have fit about 100 more people in that place if they just took the tables out. The audience was horrible... really rude and the bartenders were yelling out drink orders while he was playing. There's nothing worse than watching an acoustic show that is pretty mellow and having some bartender walk through yelling, "2 Bud Lights and a Heineken!" I'm glad Mike called him out on it too... go Mike go! Oh yeah... and the tone deaf dude standing to the right of me? He was singing louder than the artist on stage. Every lyric to every song. The guy to my left? Air guitar. Van Halen style. The whole time. Mike Doughty, we love you and apologize on behalf of Virginia Beach. Also, I heard a rumor that the Jewish Mother might start booking more punk shows. I'm guessing they will refuse to remove all the tables for those shows as well. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Anywaaaay, enough about that.

The lead singer of Gomez, Ian Ball, has released a solo record and we're liking it! It's a little more mellow than Gomez, but still has those catchy hooks. Check out the downloads below!

:: Download "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Ian Ball here ::
:: Download "Failure" by Ian Ball here ::

Mike Doughty - tonight - the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach. Be there. It will kick ass.

Check out this new song/video from his album Golden Delicious

(in stores Feb. 19)

Last night was our concert at the Kimball Theatre with Marc Cohn. The opening artist was someone I had not heard of before and I wasn't really knowing what to expect... her name was Amy Correia and she blew everyone away! Before the concert, Marc said that he was searching for someone to go out on tour with him and the minute he heard her cd, he knew he wanted her to be his opener. She kind of reminds me a little bit of Madeleine Peyroux, with a little less Billie Holiday and a little more rasp/edge. She has been described as, “The love child of Patsy Cline and Jeff Buckley.” And a great description from the New York Times reads, "...not just another quirky girl, the label often affixed to women who use their heads as aggressively as their hearts. She must face the fact that the music industry isn’t very good at promoting women who are more like the cat that eats the canary than the fragile bird itself." Ok, enough of my ranting and raving. Go download some music on iTunes and check out her website here. And thanks to everyone who came out last night for the concert... it's because of our amazing Tide fans that we are able to continue bringing live music to the Kimball Theatre!

Next week will be an amazing week for live music in this area. Check out these upcoming shows:

1/20 Wyclef Jean the Norva
1/21 Band of Horses the Norva
1/22 Marc Cohn the Kimball Theatre
1/24 Ween Toad's Place
1/25 Mike Doughty the Jewish Mother
1/27 Ani Difranco the Norva

Mark your calendars! And hey... if you can't find anything you like in this list, Joey Lawrence and Marie Osmond will be at the Hampton Coliseum on 1/28.
Happy Friday!

There is this artist that I was introduced to recently and her cd hasn't come out of my car stereo for atleast a week. In fact, some of you may have heard of her before because I hear that she went to the college of William & Mary. Her name is Thao (full name, Thao Nguyen) and she is way cool. Her album doesn't officially hit stores until January 29, but when it does, you should go get a copy for three reasons: 1) it is awesome. 2) it is really awesome. 3) did I mention Thao is awesome?

I tend to gravitate towards music that is different, but still melodic enough to sing along to in the car. This album falls perfectly into that category for me. Below is one of my favorite songs from her new album We Brave Bee Stings and All. Enjoy!

:: Download "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)" by Thao here ::

From rollingstone.com :
"Pre-production is underway for Heavier Than Heaven, a biopic about Kurt Cobain based on the Charles Cross biography of the same name. Courtney Love reportedly wants Ryan Gosling to play Cobain and Scarlett Johansson to play her."

I'm sure she does. Getting Scarlett Johansson to play Courtney would be like getting Will Smith to play Kurt... sure, he's a good actor, but probably not the most fitting. And because it's never too early in the morning for some Nirvana, here you go.

Have you heard Wild Sweet Orange yet? They are from Birmingham and I think they might be one of those slow-grow indie bands that could be huge in a few years. Not only do they write good songs, but they make cool videos too! Check out their video for "Wrestle With God" here. (for Windows Media)


:: Download "Wrestle With God" by Wild Sweet Orange here ::

There are people who like live records and then there are people who obsess over collecting live material from their favorite band. Well, here is a website for the obsessed. Not only can you find full concerts from artists like Josh Ritter, Gomez and JJ Grey & Mofro, but you'll also find full concerts posted from bands you haven't even heard of (but are actually good). And for all you Grateful Dead fans, you can scan through the 3,194 concert links here and see which ones you don't have. Jackpot!

Sunny Day Sets Fire

Yesterday it was 74 degrees and sunny here in Williamsburg... in the middle of January! It looks as though everything is back to normal today, with gray skies and that yucky anticipation of rain, which never really comes. In recognition of mother nature's evil, evil taunting yesterday, here is a new song from a band called Sunny Day Sets Fire. I love their jangly guitars and poppy chord progressions, reminiscent of music from the 60's. Although the band is based in London, it's members are from Italy, Hong Kong, the UK and Canada. Cool stuff, eh?

:: Download "Stranger" by Sunny Day Sets Fire here ::

Last month, the internet was abuzz with rumors about Led Zeppelin headlining the Bonnaroo music festival this summer. We won't know for sure what Bonnaroo's lineup will be until February 6, although I have a feeling the headliner(s) are going to be bigger than ever before (rumors were also floating around online about Metallica playing the festival). While we wait for the lineup to be announced (and you can guarantee I will be posting it here as soon as I hear about it), check out this interview with John Paul Jones that Rolling Stone posted today.

There's always room for you here at The Tide Ozzy...

Maybe if he doesn't make the cut as a news announcer, he can come work for us here at The Tide?

I finally got around to reading it...

I was feeling a little under the weather this weekend and spent most of it with my head in a book. Love is a Mix Tape is a book I first heard about through a Tide listener. Ever since then, I've been hearing about the book everywhere. I ended up reading almost the whole thing in one sitting... it was that good (or maybe I was just feeling that crappy and didn't want to get up from the couch... either way, it was a great read). The book is written by Rob Sheffield, who also writes for Rolling Stone magazine. It's an autobiography, a love story, a music guide and a tragic tale all described through a series of mix tapes. What music lover hasn't made a mix tape to describe how they feel about someone? Or maybe gotten a little too excited about being chosen to make the perfect party mix (only by default, because no one else had the time/wanted to)? I know I've got a box of old tapes sitting around somewhere. I'm a little bit afraid of what I might find though... anyone up for some Boyz II Men circa 1991?

The new year promises many great releases from bands such as Nada Surf, Drive-By Truckers, Mike Doughty, Matt Costa and the B-52's (set to release their first original album in 16 yrs... this could be really, really good or just plain awful.) Also, Chris Walla (guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie) will be releasing a solo album at the end of this month. Chris Walla is a bad-ass. Not only is he a great musician, but he runs his own recording studio, Hall of Justice Recording. He's worked with The Decemberists, Nada Surf, Tegan & Sara, Hot Hot Heat and The Long Winters.

Chris' album, Field Manual, will be released on Barsuk Records and they are offering a free download of one of the tracks. To save you the time of hunting around for it, I've provided the free download below. Enjoy!

:: Download "Sing Again" by Chris Walla here ::
(download may take a few seconds)

Well, I'm back from a little vacation in the San Francisco bay area. During my visit, I went to one of my favorite record stores-- Amoeba Records. This could quite possibly be one of the greatest record stores in the world. I've never been unable to find something I was looking for. I came back with a stack of cds:
Stars Nightsongs
Stars Heart
Guided By Voices Isolation Drills
Bjork Post
Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
Kanye West Graduation
Pixies Doolittle (one of the only albums I've ever re-bought because I listened so much, my other copy started to skip)
Eminem The Slim Shadly LP (this completes my Eminem collection. yeah... I like Slim Shady... wanna fight about it?)

Amoeba Records also has stores in Berkeley, CA and Hollywood... if you're ever in California, check them out!