I read about 3/4 of this last night while listening to XO, which we all know is one of my favorite records. It was a worthwhile endeavor, even if it’s a tiny book at only 120 pages and also physically small. Each page is maybe half your usual paperback. That said, as much as I love XO, this is giving me more insight, and that’s always good.

Completely blind, I had Derek throw me a list of winners for my giveaway. I had 28 comments, four of which were ineligible from my reading, so I had Derek pick ten numbers from 1-24 inclusive. I then shifted past the ineligible comment numbers so he couldn’t be accused of cherry-picking [and besides, he had no idea what this was for ... right now, he's sending me his wife's new record in the background, heh].

So, they are:

1 Jason Windsor
3 brandi
7 kieren
10 Jill
23 Hunter
24 ella
19 mikaela
6 Maria Arteaga
13 muruch
18 stephen cavness

All in all, I think that’s fairly well-distributed: four folks I know, six I don’t. I’ll email everyone tomorrow…

This one’s real simple, folks: Elliott Smith would’ve turned 39 today. XO, which I consider his masterpiece, will celebrate it’s tenth anniversary in a little under three weeks. Here’s what I’m gonna do:

If you’ve never owned any of Elliott’s albums and want to give him a try, leave a comment below. If more than ten people chime in, I’ll randomly pick ten names from the comment list. Please leave your real email in the comment form, as that’s the only good way I’ll have to contact you. When August 25th rolls around, I’ll pick my ten names, get the addresses, and get you a copy of XO from Amazon shipped to your location. If you don’t want to give me your address, then put it on your Wishlist and I’ll buy it for you.

Simple enough for you? I’ve often heard it said that if you love something, you’ll give it away for free. I’d love to do that for you, dear reader.

[If you're an Elliott fan and want to link this on your Weblog to help spread the love, that'd be cool. Thanks.]

Update, 7 Aug: Thanks to Chad’s publicity help, I’m definitely now past 10 people. So yeah, keep on commenting … everyone who comments will get an equal chance [so, in other words, commenting a dozen times won't help, and will probably just irritate me]. And for those of you who’ve just jumped in to say that this is cool, thanks. Tell people that you know about it, eh?

With my Mac in the shop, my bootlegs will have to wait … but I do have a new studio release to listen to, since it came in the mail yesterday:

• Steve Tannen’s Stopped at a Green Light.
  

Last week was pretty meh overall:

• Wilco’s Kicking Television. So, what does the Wilco bootleg fiend think of the Wilco live album? Admittedly, I decided I would judge it by how well-recorded “Misunderstood” was. They nailed it. Four stars—that clearly captures that era of Wilco very well. I think the current shows are even better, now that the current iteration of the band has gotten along better, but still, well-worth owning if you’re not the kind of person who wants to sell their soul to spend their time scouring the Internet to get every last bootleg. [Ummm, hi.]
  
• Son Volt’s Straightaways. Very, very meh. Two stars.
  
• 15 May 1997 [Portland, OR, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. He needs to pick up the tempo about 20%, but it’s solid and reasonably well-recorded, which is a rarity for that time period. Three stars.
• Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot engineering demos. Phew, the songs got a whole lot better on YHF. Two stars.
• 5 Jun 2006 [Charlotte, NC, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. Pretty bad, as it’s my second recording ever made. One-and-a-half stars.
  
• 29 Sep 2006 [Knoxville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of the Square Pegs in the Round. Incomplete; didn’t get to listen to this before my Mac had to go into the shop. 27 Apr: I’ll give it two-and-a-half stars. Good performance, but the SBD patch was mixed weirdly.
• 7 Jul 2007 [Hollywood, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Bird. I’m aware that using the assisted listening device was probably the only non-SBD way to record that show from more than a few rows back, but it wasn’t a good one. Ugh—compressed, flat, mid-heavy, and static-y. One-and-a-half stars.
  

The new label releases this week are things I’d always meant to get but just hadn’t … probably because I needed some downtime to get them.

• Wilco’s Kicking Television.
  
• Son Volt’s Straightaways.
  
• 15 May 1997 [Portland, OR, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. 1997-05-15: EJ's, Portland, OR, USA
• Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot engineering demos. [I figured I'd forego a true bootleg this week since I had a Wilco live record to digest.] Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Engineer Demos
• 5 Jun 2006 [Charlotte, NC, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. This is the second recording I ever made. 2006-06-05: The Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC, USA
  
• 29 Sep 2006 [Knoxville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of the Square Pegs in the Round. 2006-09-29: 7:00 p.m. show, New City Cafe, Knoxville, TN, USA (disc 1) and 2006-09-29: 7:00 p.m. show, New City Cafe, Knoxville, TN, USA (disc 2).
• 7 Jul 2007 [Hollywood, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Bird. 2007-07-07: Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA, USA.
  

Last week:

• She and Him’s Volume One. I love it. There are spots where it wears on me a bit from sameness, but I’ll talk that more in the inaugural IJSMCast, I believe. Four stars.
  
• My Brightest Diamond’s Tear It Down. None of this was bad, but none of them were outstanding. Three stars.
  
• 6 May 1997 [Santa Monica, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. I sit and listen to the interviews here, and I just want to give Elliott a hug. He sounds so down. But the recording is very good. Four stars.
• 1 Dec 2001 [Lynchburg, VA, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Peterson. It’s solid but unspectacular. Three stars.
• 3 Jun 2006 [Atlanta, GA, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. This is my very first bootleg recording, and … it shows. Two stars. :cringe: But the solo on “When I Go” sounds pretty good.
  
• 17 Jan 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Son Volt. After having a great Son Volt recording previously, this returned back to the “meh” realm. Two-and-a-half stars.
  
• 20 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. A fantastic end to a fine, fine residency. Four-and-a-half stars.
  

This week sees a couple long-awaited studio releases for me: one that just hit the streets, and another that I just never got around to getting:

• She and Him’s Volume One. I love M. Ward, so you had to figure that I’d get his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel.
  
• My Brightest Diamond’s Tear It Down. I love Shara Worden’s voice, and I loved Bring Me the Workhorse. So, why not get an album of remixes of that album? Fun times.
  
• 6 May 1997 [Santa Monica, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. 1997-05-06: Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW-FM, Santa Monica, CA, USA
• 1 Dec 2001 [Lynchburg, VA, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Peterson. 2001-12-01: West Lynchburg Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA, USA and 2001-12-01: West Lynchburg Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA, USA.
• 3 Jun 2006 [Atlanta, GA, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. 2006-06-03: The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, USA (disc 1) and 2006-06-03: The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, USA (disc 2).
  
• 17 Jan 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Son Volt. 2008-01-17: House of Blues, Chicago, IL, USA.
  
• 20 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Last night of the residency at the Riv. 2008-02-20: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 1) and 2008-02-20: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 2).
  

Last week:

• Alli Rogers’s You and the Evening Sky. Is it legal to say that you don’t like Don Chaffer’s production? [I kiddingly ask, but only because I have friends who are both fans and fellow musicians with the male half of Waterdeep, and well ... they all might string me up.] But I hear the production on “Carry a Light” and am … sorta turned off. But I guess I’m wrapped up in this visage of Alli as this guitar-bearing songstress … which she is, but that doesn’t stand up to being very interesting for 13 tracks on a CD, even for the best singer/songwriters. But it gets better from there; I really like what he does with the rest of the record. “At Sea” and “The Things We Can and Cannot Keep” are, for me, the highlights. Four stars.
  
• 30 Mar 1996 [New York, NY, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. Admittedly, I’m blessed with the awesomeness that is the present era of concert bootlegging, but even for the era and technology, this is a pretty meh show. Two stars.
• 18 Sep 2004 [North Olmsted, OH, USA] concert bootleg of The Weepies. Highly, highly recommended! Sounds fantastic, even for being a soundboard. [I typically find SBDs to be flat and lifeless.] Four-and-a-half stars.
  
• 4 May 2007 [Portland, OR, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Bird. Oh my, this recording’s terrible. This is only recommended for completionists. Two stars, barely.
  
• 8 Jun 2007 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. Noisy, indistinct, and overly bassy. One of these years, I’m gonna record them in that room and it’ll sound fantastic. Maybe I won’t have a terrible cough, either. Two-and-a-half stars.
  
• 5 Oct 2007 [London, England] concert bootleg of Son Volt. What the heck? A Son Volt bootleg that doesn’t suck? No matter what you think of the Uncle Tupelo breakup, Jeff clearly got the support of the killer tapers. But this recording sparkles, and it’s done with binaurals, which impresses me even more. Four stars.
• 19 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Nels Cline’s solo during “Impossible Germany” never fails to make me smile. Another solid recording from the Riv residency. Four stars.
  

No real intro this week. I’m spending time and energy this week getting a new hard drive on my new mini and getting all the music off of my old mini. Such are the joys of having a 200GB+ music collection…

• Alli Rogers’s You and the Evening Sky.
  
• 30 Mar 1996 [New York, NY, USA] concert bootleg of Elliott Smith. Now that I’ve got a new HDD for my newer mini, I can go back to the bootlegs that were on my old machine as I slowly merge the iTunes libraries of the two machines. 1996-03-30: Westbeth Theatre, New York, NY, USA
• 18 Sep 2004 [North Olmsted, OH, USA] concert bootleg of The Weepies. 2004-09-18: Butternut Ridge, North Olmsted, OH, USA.
  
• 4 May 2007 [Portland, OR, USA] concert bootleg of Andrew Bird. 2007-05-04: Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR, USA (disc 1) and 2007-05-04: Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR, USA (disc 2).
  
• 8 Jun 2007 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. Made by my own hand. 2007-06-08: 3rd and Lindsley, Nashville, TN, USA.
  
• 5 Oct 2007 [London, England] concert bootleg of Son Volt. 2007-10-05: Luminaire, London, England (disc 1) and 2007-10-05: Luminaire, London, England (disc 2).
• 19 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Fourth night of the residency at the Riv. 2008-02-19: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 1) and 2008-02-19: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA (disc 2).
  

Last week was very, very good to me:

• Five O’Clock People’s Temper Temper. Simply fantastic. I hadn’t been listening to the stuff on their MySpace, so I wasn’t prepared for the shift to a bit more of a modern rock sound [in spots], but … very nice. Four stars.
  
• Led Zeppelin’s Coda. Okay, so we all know what this album is: an album put together by the remnants of Zep after David Bonham’s sad death. I … just kinda wish this hadn’t been made. :shrug: Two-and-a-half stars. I need to get Houses of the Holy so I can finish my tour through the LZ catalog on an up note.
  
• 2 Mar 1992 [New Haven, CT, USA] concert bootleg of Uncle Tupelo. Two-and-a-half stars. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m burned out on Uncle Tupelo or if I’ve just been babied by superior bootlegging technology.
• 11 Feb 2005 [Richmond, VA, USA] concert bootleg of Caedmon’s Call. It’s a soundboard, Danielle’s not there, and it sounds flat to me. It’s good, but this is one of those recordings that reminds me why I generally prefer AUDs to SBDs. [No, really, I do.] Three stars.
• 14 Dec 2006 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. It’s pretty meh. That was definitely not the best recording environment, nor the best recording setup. Two-and-a-half stars.
• 16 Mar 2007 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Sandra McCracken. As I listened to this one, I thought about two things: one, thanks to Stephen Lamb for babysitting my recorder that night so I could walk around and take photos all night, and two, man, do I wish that I’d had a bass roll-off for this show. If I had, it would be as good as I could get out of single-point stereo omnidirectional microphone. Three stars.
  
• 18 Feb 2008 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Fan-fucking-tastic. That’s it. The second disc … my oh my. Four-and-a-half stars. This is why I prefer AUDs.