Truth & Salvage Co. has been opening for the Crowes for the majority of their tour, which has stretched out throughout the summer and Fall. T&S Co. has been playing clubs - in various incarnations - in Los Angeles for years now and has finally gotten their big break - signing with the label of Chris Robinson, lead singer of the Crowes and opening for his band.

Like the Crowes, Truth and Salvage play a style of music generally called 'Americana,' which in essence is a blend of bluegrass, rock, southern rock and a touch of country. They also look the part, with most of the guys wearing beards and jeans and sometimes Southern-style hats.

The band consists of six players, four of whom are singer-songwriters who write and/or sing lead on specific songs. The six include Scott Kinnebrew (guitar and vocals), Tim Jones (guitar and vocals), William 'Smitty' Smith (drums and vocals), Walker Young (keyboards and vocals), Adam Grace (keyboards) and Joe Edel (bass) and they got their starts as parts of larger groups in Los Angeles, even though most of them are from other parts of the country. (Three are from North Carolina, one Mississippi and one is from Indianapolis/Kentucky). On any given song, you can hear Kinnebrew, Jones, Young or Smitty (from behind the drums) singing lead for the entire song and several of the other three singing harmonies, many times in three parts to accompany the lead singer.

Much of their dues-paying time came with playing at The Hotel Cafe and Crane's (both in Hollywood), among other places, as the larger group or as solo acts. Jones led a mega-sized group called "The Denim Family Band" that had several of the current members of T&S Co. including Young, Grace, Kinnebrew and Smitty, as well as another singer-songwriter, George Stanford, who played bass in the group, but split off and made his own solo album.

After each of the members played and met each other at The Hotel Cafe, they thought it would a good mix if all of them joined forces and they formed another group. Their manager, who also manages The Black Crowes, introduced the two bands when he realized it might be a good fit.

Prior to going on tour, Truth and Salvage played to large crowds in and around Hollywood as well as in Iraq for the troops there. While on the Crowes tour, they have crisscrossed the country playing again to big crowds in large clubs and theaters, all of whom have taken a liking to the relatively unknown group.

According to Jones, the Crowes fans like them.

We've been getting a great response from them (the Crowes fans). One fan said 'I had never heard of you until I saw you and you're great.'"

During the trip, they also played with Levon Helm of The Band - a group to whom T&S Co. is frequently compared - as well as at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. After the Stone Pony show, the band came face to face with some guy named Bruce Springsteen, who watched the show.

Meeting eyes with Springsteen was one of the highlights of the tour, according to Jones, one of more animated members of the band. As was, at least for him, playing at the Grand Ole' Opry, in front of his Dad and grandfather, who gave him his first guitar as a young boy. After they played, Jones asked his elderly grandfather how the show was and one of his answers was 'It was loud.'

Jones said about the Grand Ole Opry show "I was really proud of the band on that night."

Playing in those venues and with the Black Crowes and Helm has been a experience of a lifetime, according to Jones.

"To listen to a band and go see a band that I like, every night, is more than a dream come true," said Jones.

After they play at Noka, the bands continue on their tour, playing in Las Vegas, Reno and then at the Fillmore in San Francisco for five nights - as well as a couple of nights on their own in the same city.

The whole tour end for them in early-December and then they'll do another short tour after Christmas, playing in San Diego at the Belly-Up on January 14th, The Troubadour in Hollywood on the 15th and perhaps in San Luis Obispo after. After that, they'll finish up mixing their album and release in it in April.

You can still get tickets for the Nokia show, but if you miss them there, check them out at the Troubadour. They're great fun to watch and make fantastic music. You'll like these guys as soon as you hear one song, whether it be "Call Back" or "Hail, Hail, Hail".

In the meantime, you can hear their music in a variety of places. They have an EP on iTunes here that you can buy, as well as a myspace page and on facebook and on their own website here.

Their full-length album comes out in April.

This one does. In fact, it surpasses it.

For the past several months, the band has laid out a superb marketing scheme of posting pieces of songs on youtube or facebook and pumping up their semi-secret shows with links to the general location in the form of Google Earth maps (one of them went from a space shot of the earth and then zeroed in onto Belgium, where they played early in the Fall). They've also used their Vultures animation and drawings as teasers on youtube and immediately shut down pirated youtube videos of their very infrequent shows.

The album was finally released on Tuesday (Monday, if you count the band streaming the entire thing on youtube) and it's fantastic.

In case you haven't heard, the group consists of Josh Homme (who plays guitar and sings for Queens of the Stone Age and The Eagles of Death Metal) on guitar and lead vocals; Dave Grohl (on drums), former drummer of Nirvana and now guitarist/singer for The Foo Fighters and the now over-60 John Paul Jones, former bass player and keyboardist of the monstrous Led Zeppelin. The lineup alone generated enough hype as it is and the album doesn't let down.

Their debut record simply called Them Crooked Vultures delivers the heavy rock you'd expect from those guys. The general sound is heavy rock, with a progressive groove that isn't heard very much these days. Most of the songs have a dark and heavy sound with Jones on bass and Grohl - who plays similarly to the late Led Zep drummer John Bonham - on drums along with Homme playing guitar and singing lead.

Of course there will the invariable comparisons to the members other bands (naturally) and if you have to compare, the record sounds mostly like a Queens of the Stone Age album (mostly due to Homme), but it also at times, sounds eerily like Led Zeppelin . Several of the tracks - including "Reptiles" and "Scumbag Blues" sound like Zep during the "In Through the Out Door/Coda" period late in their career. Homme evens sometimes sounds a little like Robert Plant occasionally, but the post-Zep Plant (like, in the late 80's and 90s). He also sounds like David Bowie singing sometimes. (If you listen carefully, you can also hear Grohl singing background vocals sometimes too)

With the addition of Jones - who hasn't played music regularly or recorded in a long time - the keyboard and bass material he contributes gives the music more of a Led Zeppelin feel and Homme and Grohl - who seems to channel Bonham on a few tracks - both go along with him.

The band - which also consists of Alain Johannes on additional guitar - is amazingly tight, especially considering that Grohl has primarily played guitar for much of the last 10 years and Jones is almost 64 years old. Jones keeps up with the young guys like he was 30. It has helped that Jones played with the Foo Fighters at their Wembley Show in 2008 (available on DVD now) and Grohl has played drums with Homme and the Queens of the Stone Age on a couple of albums. But still.

The band has played two LA shows this week (one at The Roxy and one at The Wiltern) and Homme seems humbled by the assembled group. He nonchalantly introduced Grohl at The Roxy show with a oh-yeah-this-is-Dave-on-drums vibe, but its Jones who gets the biggest ovations during the introductions. Homme then, almost as an afterthought, says 'and I'm your host, Joshua.'

If you want to hear what will be probably be at the forefront of the resuscitation of rock-music-as-popular-music trend, get yourself a copy of Them Crooked Vultures.

The band is on Facebook, myspace and they have their own site also. Here.

Musician and filmmaker Hans Fjellestad spearheaded the ResBox project in Hollywood after founding a similar group in San Diego called Trummerflora. The latter group started small in a tiny area of San Diego in the late 1990's and has grown into a very large collective of experimental and improvisational musicians and performance artists who still perform around San Diego and now Los Angeles - as well as New York City and around the world.
You can find their works here and you can also find CD's on the site as well as iTunes. (I highly recommend the Christmas CD "...and the Reindeer You Rode in on (from 1999 on Accretion Records)" - which consists of experimental interpretations of Christmas songs.

Fjellestad is playing in a two-person group tonight called "ICE CREAM" which also includes Amit Itelman and the evening also will feature performances by Steve Roden, Yann Novak and VJ Fader. Tonight is the last of the ResBox monthly series.

You can find more of Fjellestad's musical work here and here. He has made several documentary films (several about music) that includes A Frontier Life (2002) and Moog (2004), about the life and work of synthsizer maker Robert Moog. Expect three more films in the very future from Fjellestad.

The Steve Allen Theater is located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Tickets will be available exclusively in-person at the venue on show day. No lineups prior to 2pm. Ticket holders will be required to enter immediately after purchase. No ins and outs. Tickets are non- transferable

The show will be open to all ages. Box office and doors open at 8:30. Them Crooked Vultures on stage at 10:30

It's been 26 years since Midnight Star's breakout R&B hit record No Parking on the Dance Floor with the dance hits "No Parking on the Dance Floor" and "Freakazoid" and nine years since they reunited the original lineup. They've toured consistently since 2000 and released an album of new material called "15th Avenue" in 2002.

The group mostly plays shows with other R&B groups of the 80's including Zapp (without Roger Troutman who is deceased) and Con-Funk-Shun, among many others.

Expose is an 80's soul singing group who had a major hit with the song "Point of No Return," as well as other minor hits and they have also reunited. - as has Club Nouveau, who had a hit song with the remake of Bill Withers "Lean on Me" in 1987.

The show starts at 8pm. The address of the casino is

Spotlight 29 Casino
46-200 Harrison Place
Coachella, CA
1 866 377-6829

Ray's show tonight is also a CD release party - celebrating her new record The Picture Perfect - which is available on iTunes and her own website where you can hear some of her tunes before you go.

Ray calls her style 'quirky-pop' and a few of her songs have been featured in television shows such as Knight Rider and on The Style Network, E! Channel and the Lifetime TV Movie "Sorority Wars"

The show starts at 9pm and the tickets are $10 advance or $12 at the door. You can get advanced tickets at the Hotel Cafe site. The first 50 people through the door get a free EP.

The Hotel Cafe's address is 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd (between Hollywood and Sunset).

Keaton Simons will play at 9 p.m. that night and is a fantastic singer/songwriter
who is great on record and better live. His genre of music is blues
for the most part, and his voice and guitar-playing certainly match
that. His songs are sometimes acoustic, sometimes blues-pop and
sometimes just rockin — but they are always great.

He released his full-length debut CD called "Can You Hear Me" in June 2008 on CBS Records and he has been touring around the country in support of it ever since - playing in Los Angeles sparingly among those stops. The album is a brilliant mix of blues, pop with some rockin' thrown in, with some of the standout tunes that include the very radio-friendly 'Good Things Get Better;' the mellow 'Without Your Skin;' and the blues-rippin' 'Mama Song' and 'Burch Mog.' Another track on the record is perfect for today's weather - add some rain, some wine, some cold, maybe a fireplace along with your significant other and then play the song 'Currently.' Perfect combination.

You probably have already heard his songs and didn't realize it. One
of his tunes is featured in several trailers for the Starz Network
television series "Crash," and several of his tunes have been in the
television shows "Men in Trees" and "Numbers" and the movie "Sky High."

Since his last show in Los Angeles in the summer, he has made a video for 'Without Your Skin' which is here on his youtube channel. He is all over the place online with Facebook fan pages here and here; a myspace page and his own website . He is also on twitter and has created a weekly conversation called Twitterviews where on Mondays, he and another artist interview each other on twitter. That happens at 1pm PST each week.

On Friday, he goes on at 9pm, right after The Makepeace Brothers. Look for new album from Simons soon too, but check out his show first. You're guaranteed to love it.

Copeland's book is mainly about the explosive chemistry among the three members of the group, which disbanded after 1983's album Synchronicity and reformed for a very successful tour two years ago. Copeland (drums), Sting (bass and vocals) and Andy Summers (guitar) constantly conflicted about the style of music that band did - with it fluctuating among new wave, punk, reggae, experimental and then eventually pop.

In the early years, the band played punk and reggae-infused pop and had several hits, including "Roxanne" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me" Their last album was mainly pop with the mega hits 'Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain," "Synchronicity II" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger." and they won three Grammys - two for "Every Breath You Take."

Copeland has never hidden the fact that the three fought and neither has Sting. The band broke up after the Synchronicity tour in 1984 and each member pursued solo careers. Sting has released many solo albums since, has won 10 Grammys and has been nominated for three Oscars. Copeland composed many movie soundtracks as well as the theme for the television show The Equalizer in the 80's, then recorded several solo albums, many of which were of percussion-heavy instrumentals. Summers - the oldest and most experimental of the three - also recorded several solo records and made a record with Robert Fripp (of King Crimson).

In 2007, the group reformed for a new tour (after several attempts and/or reunion shows in the 90's and early 2000's) which was the highest grossing tour of those two years.

Other parts of Copeland's book include his family's participation in his musical career. including his brother Miles, who founded I.R.S. Records and was the manager of The Police and another brother Ian, who was the band's booking agent. Copeland's father Miles Sr. had little to do with the band, but worked for the C.I.A - which added another element of mystery to Copeland, as did his being raised in the Middle East for much of his early life.

Backspacer is good, not as fantastic as their first two records Ten and Vs. in the early 1990's, but good. It's the first Pearl Jam album to be at #1 in sales since No Code (1996) and, coupled with 2006's self-titled Pearl Jam, reestablishes their place in music.

Since their explosive entry into music with Ten (1991) and Vs. (1993), Pearl Jam has always been around, but after a fight with Ticketmaster; generating heat with their political stances; their refusal to make videos and the change in the musical landscape, the band veered off course until the mid-2000's. No Code sold well, but Pearl Jam the album brought them back into the consciousness. Backspacer continues the resuscitation.

The first single from Backspacer is 'The Fixer' which is certainly radio-friendly, but personally, 'Amongst the Waves,' with it's fantastic hook and chorus, seems to be the better single (it might be the second). Singer Eddie Vedder's love of surfing certainly permeates the latter song and that same activity inspired him to write the lyrics for a few of most powerful songs on Ten such as 'Alive' and 'Black.'

Other song highlights on Backspacer include "Gonna See My Friend," which is a rocker that sounds like Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden) could easily sing it and "Just Breathe," which is reminiscent of the Into the Wild Soundtrack (on which Vedder composed and sang all of the songs) as well as the Vs. track 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town."

Guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready continue to blend guitar sounds perfectly without overpowering the songs and Jeff Ament uses several different bass guitars and sounds that are always appropriate for the styles of each song.

Unlike several of their albums, Backspacer has 11 straight forward songs with none of them being unorthodox instrumentals or experiments like "Aye Davinita," "Bugs" and "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me, " among others. (All three of those tracks appear on the same album - Vitalogy.

These guys have certainly mellowed and gotten more clean-cut, but they've also far outlasted their Seattle peers and made another good record.

The show stars Patricia Arquette as wife and mother Allison DuBois, who struggles with a hectic job, a family with three young children and her psychic ability to see clues from dead people while she sleeps. She helps solves the crimes against the victims by using her abilities to aid the authorities.

NBC dropped it from it's lineup last year, so the series went to CBS - without a hitch. it's a pretty cool show and it'll continue every Friday night at 9pm. Arquette is great as the conflicted lead character. So much so that she won an Emmy in 2005 for her performance.

So, when is it? Friday at 9pm on CBS.

Schuyler Fisk - October 1 (tomorrow)
George Stanford - October 2nd (Friday)
Lelia Broussard - October 6th (Tuesday)
Andy Clockwise - October 9th (Friday)
Keaton Simons - October 16th (Friday)
(Simons has a song featured in several trailers for the Starz Network television series Crash.)
Brian Wright - Every Friday all month, except for the 16th
Sweet Talk Radio - October 20th and 27 (both Tuesday nights)
The Mornings - October 23rd (Friday)

Also, in early November
Curt Smith (of Tears for Fears) - November 2nd (Monday)
Will Hoge - November 5th - (Thursday)

for more on the lineups at The Hotel Cafe, go here

Stanford is from Philadelphia and has been in Los Angeles playing for several years. When I saw him the first time several years ago, he was playing with The Denim Family Band, who split up when two of the guys left - Stanford being one. Stanford then went solo and recorded his debut CD "Big Drop," which was released in June of 2008. He's been playing and touring in support of the album ever since, playing the Hotel Cafe and Crane's Hollywood Tavern several times over the past several months.

Several of the times I've seen him play recently, he was on the same bill as Truth & Salvage Co - which consists of many members of the no defunct Denim Family Band. Like Stanford, Truth & Salvage also got signed and they are now touring with The Black Crowes. They'll be playing Los Angeles with the Crowes in November. More on that later.

If you can, see Stanford play or get his album Big Drop. It's really good - particularly the title song, "30,000 Feet," "Downriver," "My Own Worst Enemy" and one song that's not on the album but still great, "Meet Me in Los Angeles."

He is also playing at Crane's on Wednesday October 14th

Hotel Cafe is 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood.
Crane's is at 1611 El Centro Blvd, in Hollywood/Los Angeles.

You can find the album on iTunes and Stanford's music page on Facebook and here.

Also tonight on CBS, How I Met Your Mother Episode 2 this season. I liked the premiere last week, but it wasn't a very strong start. I imagine it'll get better.

more later

He's not hurting for work though. He is the founder of Ra'mon Lawrence Designs and has three collections at the store Kohl's and he also designed actor James Francis Ginty's tuxedo and tie that he wore at the premiere of the film Surrogates last night in Hollywood.

Surrogates opens today.

After acting with Ford at age 21, Ginty now stars with Willis as well as Radha Mitchell, Boris Kodjoe and Ving Rhames in the sci-fi movie Surrogates, which opens today. The film is based on a graphic novel by Robert Vendetti and Brett Weldele and is directed by Jonathan Mostow, who has helmed Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines and U-571, among others.

The film is about a society of people who never leave their homes and live vicariously through sexier and better versions of themselves - called surrogates. After an extremely rare murder of a host and subsequent surrogate, Willis's character has to go into the real world as himself to investigate the crime and he eventually confronts a large population of robots.

Willis plays two versions of the FBI agent 'Greer,' with the surrogate wearing a comb over of blonde hair and is clean-shaven, while the 'real' version is the haggard-looking, unshaven, aged agent. While most surrogates look generally like their hosts and are approximately the same age, Ginty's character of 'Canter' is unlike most of the others - with Ginty playing a younger version and James Cromwell portraying him older.

For the part of the younger Canter, director Mostow cast Ginty obviously on his acting talent, but also on his varied arts background.

Ginty studied and performed ballet for seven years at The American Ballet Company, The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada. For his acting training, he studied at The American Drama Academy, The Royal Academy, Interlochen in northern Michigan and Julliard. All of that experience helped Ginty prepare for working on Surrogates.

"Mostow will pull whatever he can out of you," said Ginty, hours before the world premiere of the film in Los Angeles. "Doing this movie was an extraordinary experience."

As a filmmaker, Mostow tries to incorporate as many physical and practical action sequences into his films as he can, as does Willis as an action star/actor. Both of them encouraged Ginty to do the same throughout his performance, including doing some stunt work.

"There was a ton of practical stuff (real stunts) in the movie and there was certainly CGI also," said Ginty. "Bruce was a real mentor to me. He had a mentor playfulness about him. The whole cast was family through and through."

For the premiere of Surrogates at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Ginty teamed up with designer Ra'mon Lawrence Coleman of 'Ra'mon-Lawrence Designs,' who currently has three collections at Kohl's and appears on the Bravo series Project Runway.

Ra'mon - concidentally, a major sci-fi fan and an admitted 'Trekkie'- made Ginty a blue/black tuxedo with a combination sci-fi and an vintage-film look and both collaborated on the silver bow tie.

"I wanted a re-invented Old Hollywood in the tuxedo that was appropriate for him (Ginty), said Ra'mon. "The look has to represent the person as well as the designer."

Surrogates is produced by Max Handelman, David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato.