The next Brain of J headline gig is fast approaching – grab your ticket via this page to join our grunge buds for some Pearl Jam goodness on Saturday 12 November at the West Hampstead Arts Club. Support is courtesy of the RHCP Experience – the UK’s own Funky Monks (check their shoes for virtue).
‘Look what I picked up at Record Store Day,’ my friend Dave emailed me the other day, along with the picture below.
Ahh, yes, Record Store Day. Curses. I keep forgetting it each year. The above look like two fine additions to anyone’s record collection. Continue reading
Riot Act turned 14 earlier this month, along with its immediate predecessor Binaural a somewhat underrated album in the middle of the Pearl Jam pack.* Both albums were critically acclaimed on release, but over time their lustre has seemingly dimmed for many (though not for me; they remain strong personal favourites). Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it’s the early albums, along with the more overtly straightforward rock contained in Yield, that continue to have find more favour generally, as evidenced by this Rolling Stone readers’ poll from July 2013.**
My occasional series on Pearl Jam tour posters has inadvertently become very occasional.* So, applying the paddles (clear!), I shall delve back into 2012, when the conflict in Syria was but a year old and those in the know confidently predicted it would soon be over, Obama was persuading us of the merits of four more years of masterly inactivity, and Mitt Romney and Donald Trump were best buds. But at least the Lib Dems were keeping the Tories in check from their worst, austerity-inflected excesses, and no one expected an outright Tory win in 2015, not with PM-in-waiting Ed Miliband providing such effective opposition. Continue reading
Originally, I’d intended to add the remaining tour posters and song links for PJ’s South American tour to the end of the previous post, but on reflection they merit a shiny new post all of their own, so here you go. Two for the price of one, which, when it’s all free anyway, is even more of a bargain.
Pearl Jam are touring South America this month, so a chance to share a few songs from the tour, along with the posters. Continue reading
Funny, I’d expected McCready to gravitate towards my Fender Squier Stratocaster in honour of his namesake,* but it would seem it’s the Vintage SG-type guitar that’s taken his fancy. This little chap is clearly ready to rock.** Perhaps he’s dreaming up a few Thayil-style solos… Continue reading
It’s never too late to start a new career,
Long-term Chicago Cubs sufferer supporter Eddie Vedder was recently honoured with his own Topps baseball card – like Panini stickers but, well, um, for baseball. And a fine dash he cuts too, pitching at Wrigley Field last summer. Continue reading
The Seattle Seahawks meet the New England Patriots in Arizona tomorrow night at Superbowl XLIX,* as they attempt to repeat last year’s 43-8 thumping of the Denver Broncos and become the first team since Denver in 1998 to win back-to-back Superbowls.
Soundgarden and Pearl Jam both played at this autumn’s 28th annual Bridge School benefit concert (keeping Matt Cameron fully occupied)*, and the opportunity for a Temple of the Dog reunion was too good to miss.
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