Finally a talk show host who knows what he's talking about! Elvis Costello is certified and dignified. Wednesday marks the premiere of "Spectacle," a new music-themed talk show on Sundance Channel hosted by Costello. Basically it's a musician's version of "Inside the Actor's Studio" without James Lipton's endless list of mundane questions.

The guest line-up for the upcoming season includes Elton John, Lou Reed, Jenny Lewis (who teamed up with Costello for a track on Acid Tongue), The Police, She & Him and Rufus Wainwright. Each episode opens with Costello and his band performing a song. Following the interview, Costello and the guest come together for a duet.

While other channels focus too much on the tabloid-y side of celebrities' lives, Sundance Channel has got it right. Shows like "Iconoclasts" and "Live from Abbey Road" offer viewers an introspective glimpse at the creative process and the development of one's vision from its earliest stages. Here, seeing legends and colleagues chat for a leisurely hour is just as informative and fun.

-- Mark

This was one of the most fun things I've seen in a while!

Check it out

Happy Turkey week,
Jill

I'm definitely impulsive when it comes to spending money on music. I for one can't go into certain stores unless I know that it's financially possible to make a purchase. However, there's something irrationally fascinating about how much people will spend on not only music, but on music memorabilia. Par example, Rolling Stone released an article about the most expensive/ rarest music artifacts. The top one, selling for $945,000 (an amount inconceivable to me) was The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Drum Cover. The list is insane... like what does one actually do with Slash's top hat? I don't know, but I think I would love to own Madonna's cone bra...or Elton John's piano. I'm going to start saving my pennies.

-Jill

The Beatles song you were never intended to hear came into the spotlight this week.

Paul McCartney waited 41 years to announce that he plans to release the 1967 track"Carnival of Light" to the public. These 14 minutes of unadulterated experimentation was recorded at Abbey Road studios and the Beatles feared the mainstream.
While recording in a late '60s daze, McCartney, just completely out of his mind, reportedly said: "Just wander round all of the stuff and bang it, shout, play it. It doesn't need to make any sense." The improvised piece includes distorted guitar, organ sounds, gargling and shouts of "Barcelona!" and "Are you all right?" from McCartney and John Lennon.

The band played the recording for an audience only one time -- at an electronic music festival in London.

When compiling songs for the comprehensive Anthology in the early '90s, McCartney's bandmates refused including the mystery song.

Why deny us this treasure from the beginning? It's not like we ever doubted the Beatles' spirit for experimenting. The next step for the jovial Beatle: acquiring permission from Ringo Starr and the widows of Lennon and Harrison. I wish him luck.

-- Mark

Blitzen Trapper, out of Portland, was featured in Rolling Stone recently, and I decided to take a listen. I'm glad I did. The band is signed to Sub Pop records and is hailed as the new face of the Oregon sound, along with Fleet Foxes. 2008's Furr is an eclectic mix of styles, to say the least, but there's an earthy element that ties it all together with a lot of acoustic guitar and folky harmonizing. "Not Your Lover" is a piano-and-harmonica ballad that could be an outtake from Neil Young's desperate 1975 album Tonight's the Night.

"Furr," the title track from the album, sounds like Rubber Soul-era Beatles or perhaps Simon and Garfunkel. That's a pretty good thing, by the way.

-- Andy

I'm not sure exactly why it's happening now, but this past week has been crazy as far as concerts are concerned.

The State Theatre alone has hosted The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers, the Derek Trucks Band, Blue Öyster Cult and Wolf Parade in the span from Nov. 5 to Nov. 13. In fact, the Theatre is hosting two separate shows simultaneously tomorrow, with Punch Brothers playing in the main theater and an acoustic show hosted by The Asylum in the attic. The bands playing the attic show are The Menzingers, The Tweeds and Rob, Lately and the Tiny Heart Band.

Roustabout! differed from its tradition of hosting only one band yesterday, when both Baby Aspirin and The Safes played at Bar Bleu for this week's edition. The Wolf Parade show tonight is also sponsored by Roustabout! and features special guest The Listening Party. Cherry Darling continues to reliably host shows, including a show featuring The States this past Tuesday at the Brewery. As for the future, Cherry Darling is sponsoring an acoustic appearance by Misfits lead singer Michale Graves at SoZo on Saturday. SoZo will also be hosting a show tomorrow featuring headliner Clarity, as well as one on Nov. 17 with Nightmare of You.

There doesn't appear to be any particular reason why so many shows are happening at the same time, but it only means good news for music fans in State College. The bands the State Theatre has been hosting are genuinely a big deal. Everybody knows Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," critics love The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers, and Derek Trucks is the lead guitarist from The Allman Brothers Band. And to see why Wolf Parade is a big deal, read reporter Adam Clair's analysis of the process that went into the band's booking at the Theatre.

-- Andy

There's a reason Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series Vol. 8, which came out last month, is the second highest-rated recent release on Metacritic.com - it's fantastic. This collection of rare and released songs, from between 1989 (Oh Mercy) and 2006 (Modern Times), makes for a superb 137-minute listen not solely for the avid fan.

Musicians wish their B-sides tasted this good.

The strongest track is "Someday Baby," an alternative version of the Modern Times song. Bearing little resemblance to the intensely ambitious blues original, this is one takes a slower, subtler approach.

He also includes stand-alone tracks that fit in smoothly on a compilation like this instead of one particular album. Some songs like "Series of Dreams" and "Most of the Time" might have not needed to be re-recorded, but their inclusion strengthens the album regardless.

On top of that, the packaging is also sleek and professional. The booklet, which contains a photo album-esque look at Dylan at all ages, explains the origins of each song. Session musician Jim Dickinson complained that by omitting "Red River Shore" from Time Out of Mind, they cut the best song. The moving, emotional lament is more at home as a part of Bootleg.

-- Mark

So, on this beautiful sunshine-filled day, I can't but help but look ahead in the music world and smile at the fact there's a bunch of releases coming soon that I have extremely high hopes for!
To name a few:

Gnarles Barkley Nov. 11

So, yeah. Though I'm not like uber crazy about Gnarles Barkley, I know tons of people are, so I have a feeling Who's going to Save My Soul is going to be a well-received EP. Plus, the video for , "Mystery Men" looks pretty neat.

Guns N' Roses Nov. 23

So, if you didn't know already, you can check out the count down until Chinese Democracy and get a little preview of the album. With the sweet title and 15 years since The Spaghetti Incident?, I think this one is going to be pretty kick ass.

The Killers Nov. 25

Now I loved Sawdust. I can't say Sam's Town did that much for me. Although, I'm always going to love "When you Were Young." But when it comes to Day & Age, I have high hopes. The new single, "Human" sounds pretty catchy:
"Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance,
They always did the best they could"

I'm pumped.

-- Jill

Blogger's listen of the day: "Tape Song" by The Kills.

Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady rocked the State Theatre last night. It was a great show and putting these two bands on the same bill was ingenious. Though they have different backgrounds (THS is from Brooklyn and DBT is from Athens, Georgia), both bands approach music with the same working-class mentality. They both write songs about regular people doing regular things, and both emphasize storytelling in their songs. In fact, these are probably the two smartest "bar bands" in the world right now. Read the full review here.

As for last night's show, both The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers drew heavily from their most recent albums (Stay Positive and Brighter Than Creation's Dark, respectively). Considering Brighter was 19 tracks long, the Truckers could've made a set out of that album alone. Both bands played about 90 minutes, and members of each band came out onstage for some of the other band's set. Since the bands are co-headlining the tour, they've been alternating opener and closer roles. DBT opened and THS closed for this particular date. Here's the full set list from the show:

Drive-By Truckers:

"Hell No I Ain't Happy"

"Self Destructive Zones"

"(Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon"

"Sounds Better in the Song"

"That Man I Shot"

"3 Dimes Down"

"Putting People on the Moon"

"Marry Me"

"Tales Facing Up"

"Ghost to Most"

"Righteous Path"

"I'm Sorry Huston"

"Women Without Whiskey"

"Sink Hole"

"Carl Perkins' Cadillac" w/ Tad Kubler from The Hold Steady

"Let There Be Rock" w/ Tad Kubler from The Hold Steady

"Lookout Mountain" w/ Tad Kubler from The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady:

"Positive Jam"

"Stay Positive"

"Constructive Summer"

"Multitude of Casualties"

"Hot Soft Light"

"Stuck Between Stations"

"Don't Let Me Explode"

"One For Cutters"

"Cheyenne Sunrise"

"Stevie Nix"

"Sequestered in Memphis"

"The Swish"

"Your Little Hoodrat Friend"

"Navy Sheets"

"Chips Ahoy"

"Joke About Jamaica"

"Lord, I'm Discouraged"

"Slapped Actress"

Encore:

"Sweet Payne"

"Burnin' for You" (Blue Öyster Cult cover) w/ Patterson Hood, John Neff and Jay Gonzalez from Drive-By Truckers

"Look Out Cleveland" (The Band cover) w/ Patterson Hood, John Neff and Jay Gonzalez from Drive-By Truckers

"How A Resurrection Really Feels"

- Andy

While I was at McLanahan's today, waiting in line for my tuna salad sub (I didn't know they put celery in tuna salad. Gross), I heard one of the most memorable if not best songs from 1998 come over the speakers.

Therefore, the song for the first installment of Super-Fantastic Tuesday Song is K-Ci and Jo-Jo's "All My Life." What? You honestly don't like this song? C'mon, man, lighten up. How can you not just explode with emotion at 1:55 when Jo-Jo belts out, "I really / LOVE YOU!"

Even the video gets me, too. Look at the poor guy at 2:22. He looks so damn happy to get that...uh...whatever, that food is. Wait, is that Bradley Cooper from Wedding Crashers? IS HE THE BUM? I think it is, holy crap.

Well, anyway, come back here same time next week for the Super-Fantastic Tuesday Song. Maybe next time it'll be here earlier than 5:30. Don't get your hopes up, though.

-- Rich