Tickets went on sale for what has been announced as the final Crossroads Festival, June 26th at Toyota Park in Chicago.   The show benefits the Crossroads Centre, Antigua, a non-profit, International Centre of Excellence for the treatment of alcohol and other drug addictions founded by Eric Clapton in 1997.

The first festival was a two day event held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  Then in 2007, it was changed to a one day festival in Chicago.  It returns this Summer with a lineup I could not turn down.  The whole family will be attending.  I got seats instead of GA because this is their first big time, all day concert and I want them to be able to walk around and stretch.

Gates open at 10am with the show starting at noon.  It is still four months off and with a predicted snow storm of up to 10 inches scheduled for tomorrow night, a day of listening to great guitar under the sun sounds just fine.

This is the current confirmed lineup.

• Albert Lee
• Allman Brothers Band
• BB King
• Bert Jansch
• Buddy Guy
• David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos
• Doyle Bramhall II
• Earl Klugh
• Eric Clapton
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Hubert Sumlin
• James Burton
• Jeff Beck
• Jimmie Vaughan
• Joao Gilberto
• Joe Bonamassa
• John Mayer
• Jonny Lang
• Keb Mo
• Pino Daniele
• Robert Cray
• Robert Randolph
• Sheryl Crow
• Sonny Landreth
• Stefan Grossman
• Steve Winwood
• Vince Gill
• ZZ Top

I've been listening to Spoon's latest release Transference for about a week and it has worn on me nicely.  Before Destruction sets the tone of the album.  It is somewhat atmospheric but with a bit of syncopation.  It kicks things off by announcing to the listener that this album is different.

Transference is the seventh album from the Austin, TX band and their first since their breakthrough album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.  It debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #4, their chart peak.

Mystery Zone, I Saw The Light and Trouble Comes Running are the stand out tracks with Trouble Comes Running ranking as the album's strongest.

Transference shows the band giving fans a strong release while changing things up enough to keep both long time and newer fans happy.

Last night was the final Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.  It is teh end of a very sad chapter caused by NBC's stupidity.  I hope Leno comes back on March 1st and fails miserably.  Unfortunately, I'm afraid the TV watching public will do the right thing and stay away.

The entire final episode is below.  If you aren't patient enough for the whole thing, I recommend the 36 minute mark for some killer slide guitar from Ben Harper.

Vampire Weekend has two things to avoid.  One imagined, one not.  The former is the Twilight backlash on the part of the haters who are anti-Vampire anything.  Okay, I made that up.  The latter is very real and is rarely avoided by bands who achieve success on their debut albums.  Debut albums are planned for during a bands entire life up to that point.  They can work out the kinks overs many years and pick the strongest songs from their library to that point.  The comes the follow up.

Far too often, the follow up album hits with a thud.  The Pretenders II, October, Don't Look Back, Candy-O and many other second albums showed bands that released lesser albums after incredibly strong debuts.  That brings us to Vampire Weekend.  Their self-titled debut was successful but I felt they were ripe for the Sophomore Slump.  This week, their new album Contra is served up.  How does it fare?

I would say overall, it fares very well.  Do they avoid the Sophomore Slump?  Yes.  Is it for everyone?  Maybe, maybe not.  The world music sound that they brought to their first album is back in force.  I hear a lot more synth in this album than I recall in the first album.  A number of reviews note the "Graceland-esque" sound of the album.  The vocals even have a Paul Simon quality on several songs.  I don't feel this is a trouble spot but some might.  There is a lot worse influence a band can use.

All is not perfect.   The running time of the album is rather short at about 35 minutes with the collection consisting of 10 songs.  That's about it.  I like this album.  The hooks are plenty and the energy flowing full on. 

Vampire Weekend has avoided the sophomore slump and has a second album that may well be stronger than their great debut album.

The celebrity birthday parade continues today with the guitarist who influenced me the most.  That would be Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.  Happy 66th James Patrick.

Elvis would have been 75 and David Bowie is 63.

As we approach the 75th anniversary of Elvis' birth, why don't we all dream?

Take it away Adam...

Happy New Year's and to all a happy Blue Moon courtesy of the King.

Every year about this time, my high school and college buddies who participate is very intense and thought provoking email list put together our lists of top 10 albums released over the past twelve months.  Most of us have been in bands together so our tastes in music is very similar but occasionally one of us throws a curve ball.  In true Big Ten fashion, my Top 10 list has 12 entries, with a 13th "Bonus pick" thrown in for good measure.

So, without further ado, here is the list I came up with.

1. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
2. The Tragically Hip - We Are The Same
3. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
4. Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight Oslo
5. Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
6. Echo and the Bunnymen - The Fountain
7. Cymbals Eat Guitars -Why There Are Mountains
8. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
9. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. Them Crooked Vultures
11. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Century of Self
12. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Bonus Pick: Hooray For Earth - Momo
Bonus Pick: James Horner - Avatar Soundtrack