Some Music Notes

Well, the Syd Straw Heartwreck didn't exactly end up as planned, what with Syd being arrested right before the show and carted off to jail (!). The story - from one of Syd's band members - is that she made an illegal left turn onto Delancey, a cop pulled her over, words were exchanged, and the overzealous cop hauled her in for allegedly attacking him with her car - a charge the band member says is totally absurd. Poor Syd! Last I heard is that she's going to try to reschedule the show, which I hope happens. I mean, a year without a Heartwreck Show scarcely bears thinking about!

In other news, Beth Orton has just put out what may be the cutest video ever. Click to see her frolic with puppets!

And it's been a while since I mentioned the great music resource the Musical Family Tree, but they've just had a major update from two of my favorite bands. First off, the Bloomington-based Mysteries of Life have a great retrospective of their career from their first two sadly out-of-print albums and their not-out-of-print-but-pretty-obscure other albums and EPs. Brilliant Midwestern chamber-pop with a driving cello part. Click below to view their appearance on Conan O'Brien (thanks to Youtube.com!).



And also hailing from Bloomington are the Mary Janes, led by my friend, the brilliant Janas Hoyt, and with whom I have had the privilege of occasionally sitting in on accordion during their New York appearances. They've got a more country vibe but also with a strong string section (in this case, viola). And they've just uploaded a veritable treasure trove of unreleased demos and live tracks on the Musical Family Tree site. (Their two albums are also well worth tracking down).

And, last but certainly not least, haven't you always wanted to hear Tom Baker sing "Video Killed the Radio Star?" Well, thanks to British Telecom, now you can!!!!