You better get yer butt over to tmwsiy* for some live Jeff Tweedy, including a new Loose Fur song and an amazing version of Sunken Treasure.

The Los Angeles Times gives us a nice read on Brendan Benson, whose Alternative to Love is holding firm in my year’s Top 10.

Going to see Dios (Malos) tomorrow night. Sweet.

Excellent news from the sourceVictoria camp: They’ve been added to the bill for the Rogue Wave show on Dec. 15 in Phoenix.

A nice story in The Arizona Republic on the man responsible for this Saturday’s Cayenne Festival and many other great indie shows in Phoenix.

Also, local boys Secret Life of Painters, whom I’ve posted on before, have a 7-inch single almost ready for sale. Go say hi at their My Space page.

OK, I’m trying to clean house around here, and that includes sprucing up the ol’ blog roll. Am I missing your blog? Am I totally oblivious about a site to which I should be linking? Please, holler at me. We’ll swap links and we’ll all be happy.

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Yeah, I bought this … wanna make something of it? Frankly, I think the humor in Beavis and Butt-head is a lot more clever than it was ever given credit for. I think we can all agree that Mike Judge, who is repsonsible for Office Space and King of the Hill, created a fine piece of pop culture in Beavis and Butt-head.

If you’re going to buy the DVD set, be warned: It’s NOT divided into seasons. A little letter inside the package from Judge explains that it is the first volume of two-thirds of the show that he felt “didn’t suck.” Episodes were selected by him, thus “the Mike Judge Collection.”

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I’m excited for next Saturday, which brings the Grand Cayenne Music Festival to Mesa Amphitheatre. The lineup:

Spoon, Mates of State, Black Heart Procession, Go Big Casino (side band of Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins), The Album Leaf, Hello Goodbye, Earlimart and Reubens Accomplice, to name a few.

Most of my posts/mp3s next week likely will focus on the bands playing this show. There’s also a potential special announcement in the works regarding this show. Stay tuned.

For now, a taste of an Arizona band I previously have posted on, Reubens Accomplice.

Get a video of Reubens playing at a Western Tread records showcase here.

We’re back from Chicago and it was a blast. The weather was phenomenal, and living in Arizona I nearly forgot what it looks like when leaves change colors. Perfect. We saw family, ate deep dish pizza, rode the ‘L,’ hit some bars, did some shopping and (the reason for the trip) celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday. We didn’t, however, go see Digable Planets. We decided we’d be more productive with a night out on the town.

There’s not much to say other than Chicago is an amazing city. And I knew this, having been born there. But each time I go back, the more I seem to be able to appreciate it.
A few pics of the fam:

My niece Quinn LOVED the Shedd Aquarium.

Quinny helps my dad (aka “Grampy”) with the candles.

Me and Niece No. 2, Eliot (aka “Baby Sister”), pose at Bandera on Michigan Ave.

My wife Annie and my brother Brendan look precious.
That brings me to tonight, when Annie, Brendan and I will be going to see Death Cab for Cutie at Marquee Theatre in Tempe tonight; it’s a sellout (the show, not Death Cab). It was part of our birthday gift to B, so it should be fun. On that note, I recently viewed the Death Cab DVD Drive Well, Sleep Carefully. Part of the extra footage includes acoustic material from the Metreon in San Francisco. I ripped the audio into mp3 format for two songs. Enjoy.

Death Cab for Cutie | The New Year (acoustic from DVD extras)
Death Cab for Cutie | Title and Registration (acoustic from DVD extras)

It’s off to the Windy City I go to see family, friends and celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday. There will be eating of deep dish pizza and seeing of Digable Planets on Friday night. (If you haven’t already, go check Gorilla vs. Bear for pics of the DPs in Dallas.)

We get back Monday and then see Death Cab in Tempe on Tuesday … a sold-out show. Busy, busy. In the meantime, my boy Royce might pick up my slack while I’m away (no pressure, Royce).

Here’s some Chicago lovin’ …

Spoon | Chicago at Night
Soul Coughing | Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago
Jawbox | Chicago piano
Hieroglyphics | Chicago

So my wife and I are headed to Chicago on Thursday with the entire family to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday. My brother and his wife ingeniously planned this suprise trip to my dad’s stomping grounds, planned a party and nobody in the extended family let the cat out of the bag. Beautiful.I’m pumped to see family I haven’t seen in awhile, a good friend from high school we’re staying with and to perhaps see Digable Planets on Friday at the Metro.

Throughout the week, I’ll be giving my hometown (OK, so it was the ‘burbs … Palatine, y’all! Here’s the old house!) some props with Chicago-related tunes.

In related Chicago news — and much to the dismay of Chris and his beloved Lions — the Bears are in first place. So what if they’re 4-3 and play in perhaps the weakest division this side of the Canadian Football League. It’s all about defense, baby. If the Ravens won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer as quarterback, surely Kyle Orton is sufficient.

On that note …

Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew | The Super Bowl Shuffle (vocal mix)
Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew | The Super Bowl Shuffle (instrumental)

Also …
Sufjan Stevens | Chicago (on KCRW)

We’re hittin’ the road to Austin today. Can’t wait to get there. You should be in good hands with Royce while I’m partying like a rock star.

Also, funny story: My friend (and co-worker) Carrie tells me someone in our building said he saw her on a blog. He saw her picture from my birthday party last week. Turns out, he checked the site regularly but had no idea we worked in the same building. Small world. Anyway, he’s running a streaming radio station with an eclectic mix of tunes; I was rockin’ it at work the other day.

So check out RadioLAB today.

More goodness from another Austin artist:

David Garza | Float Away
David Garza | Blow My Mind

So, I turned 28 on Wednesday and my awesome wife put together a little throwdown last night at one of our favorite bars in town, Rosie McCaffrey’s. I’m paying for it today. Now, I know this is an mp3 blog, but we got some good pics and I thought I’d share. If you look hard enough, I’ve sprinkled a few tunes throughout.

And for any of my friends who are reading this, thanks for coming out! Jay and Carrie hooked me up with a gift certificate to Stinkweeds, and Angie and Chris got me a gift that, in Chris’ words, is tits. (You’ll see.) On with the pictures …

There’s my wife Annie in what we call the money shot.

That’s me. Rock ‘n’ roll forever.

Dave, Jay and Carrie smile pretty.
MP3: Pep Love (of Hieroglyphics) | Family and Friends

Jessica and Royce enjoy the drinkies.

My man Chris cops a feel on a total stranger.OK, no. That’s his girlfriend Angie.

Angie and Chris brought me back this beautiful mug from Florida.”It’s tits,” Chris said.
MP3: Living Legends | Fill My Drink

Monica gives her husband Angel the bird. Royce thinks that’s funny.

Dan smokes a stogie.

Darren moves in on my wife.

Chris bought me a jager bomb — a jager shot dropped into Red Bull.
MP3: Alejandro Escovedo | I Was Drunk

I’ve been blessed with a Gmail account, so I can be reached at somuchsilence@gmail.com.

And if you haven’t already, update bookmarks to www.somuchsilence.com.

Thank you.

So, I’m back from LA. Just drove six hours right into work — even saw a big rig on fire on the side of the highway.

I have no music right now, but I will later because I scored at Amoeba. A few highlights:

• The Jurassic 5 EP on vinyl for 3.99; the original pressing, NOT the reissue.
• The Black Keys’ The Big Come Up on vinyl — WHITE vinyl — for 6.99.
• Brendan Benson’s One Mississippi (finally) and a Metarie EP with a couple of different versions of that song. I thought I had the drop on Chris, president of the Brendan Benson fan club, only to find out he already had it (of course!). But I will post if anyone would like. It also includes sorta different versions of Alternative to Love and You’re Quiet.
• Shout Out Louds CD Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, which I’m liking.
• One 12″ vinyl single that will make for a very special Flashback Friday.

Last note, on the drive outta town, I got to listen to Nic Harcourt and Morning Becomes Eclectic for about an hour. He said that when White Stripes and Greenhornes were in town last week, they recorded a couple sessions in the studio. White Stripes will broadcast on Sept. 6, Greenhornes sometime in October.

As for LA, well, traffic is absolutely awful, even on the weekends. Which made me think of Death Cab’s Why You’d Want to Live Here. I can think of two reasons: the weather and Amoeba.

A friend of mine at work brought this story to my attention, which is ironic because I was over at Can You See the Sunset and Eric wrote about music and his soon-to-be-born daughter seemingly responding to his singing to her.

The story states that four newborns in a Slovak hospital are listening to classical music as part of an experiment to see if it helps reduce stress and stay healthy. It says most of the babies lie quietly or fall asleep when tuned in. Well, duh. Clearly, they’d be better off listening to Sufjan.

Regardless, I can’t decide if I’m disturbed or amazed by this. As my friend pointed out: “You know they’re really programming killing machines that don’t feel pain.”