Dated Sunday May 20th, 2007 1pm
Greenwich Village, NYC

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming issue #3 of Down The Rabbit Hole-Adam's Picks (and other assorted crap)


.

I wrote it last week so it may seem a little out-of-date (since "Bleed" has been up on my MySpace page for about a week already) but I was going to write an update today about some other stuff anyway so I thought I'd give you a little taste of Issue #3 since it's coming out next week (Friday, I think) and the music section is entirely dedicated to The Negro Problem and Stew:

I just listened to my bootleg of The Negro Problem's "Silly Symphonies" show (I like to title my bootlegs) again and it made me remember how much I loved that night as a whole. I hadn't seen The Negro Problem in a few years so it was a really special night. I actually feel silly saying that because I had seen Stew a ton of times in the meantime (and even done a few tours together) and it's not like they're not pretty much the same people. But, for whatever reason, they'd been "Stew" for a few years and, at least on this one night, they were "The Negro Problem", which is how I was first introduced to them, so I was excited.

It was uptown at Symphony Space (hence the bootleg title "*Silly Symphonies") and I had annoyed the hell out of all my friends telling them they HAD to see this show or I would hate them all or, at the very least, not speak to them. The first part was probably a lie; the second, since I knew this show was, in all likelihood, all I would be talking about for days, probably wasn't all that far off.

Anyway, it was a great night. They did two full shows with two entirely different sets (three full hours of music) and Immy and I even got to sit in on a few songs at the end of the second set, which was a dream-come-true/nightmare for me (I didn't want to fuck anything up), especially after Stew insisted I had to sing the lead vocal on "Bleed". I didn't exactly show up knowing all the words to the 200 or so songs the guy's written so I spent most of soundcheck sitting on the side with my iPod (thank god for iPods) frantically scribbling down lyrics for it and the other songs Stew wanted to play in the encores (the fucker actually picked some of the hidden tracks off "Joys and Concerns" for us to play on-HIDDEN TRACKS!!!-I mean, I knew the songs but I sure as hell didn't know the lyrics or the harmonies).

It all went really well. The bootleg's killer too. It's funny for me because you can clearly hear Immy, and occasionally my friend Deb Kletter, laughing throughout the whole bootleg (of course you can clearly hear Immy laughing in Cleveland when he's in Portland so that's not really such a big deal). I think Ehud must have been sitting either right in front of us or right behind us.

It's funny how I still get nervous about stuff like that night. I don't get nervous about our shows but I really don't like the idea of fucking up my friend's show and, for some stupid reason, I still get the idea that I'm going to. It's dopey because I'm actually kind of good at this sort of stuff at this point in my life but some part of my brain doesn't seem to have gotten the memo.

There are times when I just want to say to my brain,

"Will you just fucking behave yourself! I mean, I like having you around, and you can certainly be a lot of fun at a party, but mostly just want you to be there so I can do some math when I feel like it or juggle. I used to think you'd be useful when I was talking to girls but that turned out to be a total miscalculation. Mostly though, I just want you to stop with all the extra-curricular shit like the memory gaps and the general hallucinatory crap. Why can't you behave like everyone else's brain? Bad brain! Bad brain!"

Okay. That was creepy. I am so clearly loopy and all that did was air it out in public.

Oh well, fuck it. Anyway, I'm going to put the version of "Bleed" that Immy and I played with The Negro Problem at Symphony Space on that wonderful magical silly night up on my MySpace page. I probably have to put it up on the CC page to do that so it'll be there as well.

Ok, that's the end of the excerpt. We got some more Blacktop Mourning reviews in the past few days so I wanted to put them up here for you.

Rock Eyez Webzine (http://www.rockeyez.com) says:

http://www.rockeyez.com/reviews/cd/blacktopmourning/rev-blacktopmourning-noregret.html

Blacktop Mourning
No Regret
Tyrannosaurus Records (http://www.TyrannosaurusRecords.net)
2007
Alternative Rock
Brian Rademacher
www.blacktopmourning.com
www.myspace.com/blacktopmourning

Rating:
4.5 stars/5

Children of the night have awaken and its "6AM" the
opening track for this amazing band from Chicago, a
blend of rock and alternative that smacks you between
the eyes. I love these boys as they push the limits
with hooks and melody above simplistic typical
alternative sound.

Their young yet they seem to have the perfect balance
between rock and alternative for success. The music is
driving and hits hard and enjoyable to listen to.
BLACKTOP MOURNING is produced by Adam Duritz (COUNTING
CROWS), Max Steger and David Immergluck, with Duritz
adding background vocals on four of the tracks.

There is a multitude of great tunes but one of harder
hitters is "My Only Heart" it has aggressive guitar by
Max Steger and with the vocal pipes of Joe Levand who
drives this track home it could reach out to the metal
crowd.

"These Times Call" returns to the more AOR style and
If these boys had the same gimmick of MY CHEMICAL
ROMANCE they would put The ROMANCE on a back burner.
There are not just a few good songs on "No Regrets"
this is a CD you can listen to from start to finish
without skipping tracks.

You can hear the influence of Adam Duritz of the
COUNTING CROWS on this phenomenal ballad "Hardly
Recognize", Levand totally shines and shows the
versatility BLACKTOP MOURNING possesses.

Listening to the last track you would figure that
there should be at least one filler track, not here.
"As Time Crawls By" is still slamming just as good as
the first track. This is a killer debut that reaches
out to music fans, has to be added to your collection.
And you think these guys are just another pop band
check the licks on this track by Steger…. Who's you
daddy….Get it!!!
Band Lineup:

* Max Steger - Lead Guitar
* Joe Levand - Vocals, Bass
* Shawn Nystrand - Guitar
* Greg Gerard - Drums
* Nate Wethy - Bass


Track Listing:

1. 6AM
2. Halfway to Midnight
3. Future's Gone
4. Don't Defend
5. My Only Heart
6. These Times Call
7. Your First Crime
8. Hardly Recognize
9. Another Day
10. Buried in My Eyes
11. As Time Crawls By


Ink19.com says:

Blacktop Mourning
No Regret
T-Recs
The high energy punk-pop of Blacktop Mourning is certainly an interesting choice for Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz to champion as the first signing to his new record label.

However, despite the bluff and bluster of opener "6AM," it soon becomes clear from listening to No Regret that the Chicago five-piece are a little more cerebral than your average punk-pop outfit, and have an extremely bright future ahead.

With exposure on MTV and 500,000 spins on MySpace to their credit already, Duritz's punt on Blacktop Mourning looks sound commercially, and with the virtuoso guitar skills of Max Steger, they are the real deal musically too. Coming across as a blend of Jack's Mannequin and Sum 41, Duritz's influence is all over songs such as the standout "Don't Defend," "Future's Gone" and the ballad "Hardly Recognize," while the band's instinct to rock out manifests itself on powerful tracks such as "My Only Heart" and "Halfway To Midnight."

Blacktop Mourning may not emulate the success of Counting Crows with No Regret but it's heartening to see Duritz putting his money where his mouth is and backing a local band he clearly believes in.

Blacktop Mourning: www.blacktopmourning.com
Andrew Ellis


Not bad, huh?

See you soon.

Don't forget to visit CountingCrows.com. We got new pics and more and more rare stuff going up all the time now as we approach the release of the new record.

Also, don't for get to visit Tyrannosaurus Records where we're proud be selling "She Likes the Weather", the long lost album by legendary San Francisco band The Himalayans (featuring me) in our Dino-Store. It's ONLY, for the moment, available through the Dino-Store. We are not selling it anywhere else. Order your copy now!

Visit The Himalayans at The Himalayans' MySpace Page or at TheHimalayans.com.

Also, visit T-Recs at Tyrannosaurus Records MySpace Page and our other bands at NOTAR's MySpace Page, Blacktop Mourning's MySpace Page, and blacktopmourning.com

The new song on my page is called "Bleed" and it's by a band called The Negro Problem. It was recorded at a concert a year or so ago at Symphony Space in NYC. They're friends of ours, so Immy & I sat in on the last few songs. They're pretty much my favorite band and the singer Stew is pretty much my favorite songwriter. You should check them out. They have a website. I like to call it Their website. They also have a MySpace page that someone else made for them (so I guess it;'s not really their page). I like to call it The Negro Problem's MySpace page that someone else made for them (so I guess it;'s not really their page).

Anyway, you should check them out. I'll write more about them soon in Issue #3 of my online magazine Down The Rabbit Hole-Adam's picks (and other assorted crap).

Dated Tuesday May 15, 2007 1am
Greenwich Village, NYC

Well, today is the day. It's 1am and I'm in the studio mixing the 1st song from our new record (and that's pretty fucking cool too) but today is a REALLY big day for me because today is the day Tyrannosaurus Records releases our first NEW album.

I'm so proud we were able to finally release The Himalayans-She Likes The Weather because it was a really big part of my life and I was really happy that it finally got to see the light of day.

But we're a real record company and that means MAKING records and today we're releasing a record WE made. The first real NEW RELEASE from T-Recs comes out today, May 15, 2007 and it is the debut album No Regret from Chicago's own Blacktop Mourning. I know I printed out the review from AbsolutePunk.net the other day but we've gotten a few more in since then and I think the best way to celebrate this occasion is just to let you know what the critics are saying about the new album from our little indie label.


Muze says:

Emotion is key on the Chicago band Blacktop Mourning's debut, which was also the first album released on Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz's Tyrannosaurus Records label. Duritz, who also produced, guides the band through a vibrant, sophisticated set that highlights the vocal, instrumental, and songwriting talents of its youthful leader, the 18-year-old Max Steger. "Halfway to Midnight" is a punk-like explosion of teen angst kept in check by a subtly shaded arrangement, "Future's Gone" is a brooding meditation on both the end of a relationship and the end of innocence, and "Buried in My Eyes" is a hard-rocking look at an uncertain future.

AllMusic.com says:

Review by Rick Anderson

This is the inaugural release from a new label founded by Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz, and it features a band that he discovered on MySpace. Blacktop Mourning are led by guitarist and songwriter Max Steger, who is something of a guitar prodigy and started his career playing in Chicago blues clubs at age 12 and was 18 when this album was released. Interestingly, you'll hear precious little blues influence on No Regret; instead, Blacktop Mourning have managed to harness the noisiness of post-hardcore emo and wrestle it into a pure pop sound that features plenty of tight, razor-edged guitars and chugging metal riffs but always seems to have its heart in soaring melodies and multi-layered harmonies. Imagine if the Rocket Summer had been raised on Spitalfield and the Promise Ring, and you'll have some idea what to expect. The album's opening track, "6 AM," is also its most perfect, a three-minute anthem that could be used as liturgical music in the Church of Power Pop. "Don't Defend" features both a solid wall of buzzsaw guitars and handclaps on the chorus, and there may actually be a string section on "Your First Crime." And "Hardly Recognize" is a ballad that is simply drenched in sumptuous harmony. This is one of the most exciting debut albums by a rock band in years.


East Coast Romper (www.ecromper.com) says:

BLACKTOP MOURNING-NO REGRET
Tyrannosaurus Records
Adam Duritz (COUNTING CROWS) has been busy as of late and his new record label, Tyrannosaurus Records will be using BLACKTOP MOURNING as their flag ship. Additionally, he contributed to the album by adding his vocals to a handful of tracks. They were destined for at the least, some minor fame because of all their appearances on MTV through the many annoying reality shows. Having Adam hold their collective hands for their debut certainly made their lives a shade easier. So with all the additional help that isn't usually afforded to aspiring rock bands, is their music worth your time and effort? Surprisingly, the band does possess a real flair for cutting well rounded tunes that run the gauntlet of emotions and style. They infused punkish jaunts, rock inspired melodies and witty orchestrations together into a memorable listening experience. The guitar work is purely dynamic yet edgy while the drumming and bass work maintain a proper sense of energy. Lyrically speaking, it may not command adoration but the music by itself was lush and relevant. Some of the riffs may not blow you away but the leads will certainly grab your attention and never let go. It is what it is; charged up rock and roll with some sneaky intelligence.


www.Bullzeye.com says:

Blacktop Mourning: No Regret
Label: Tyrannosaurus Records
3.3 stars out of 5

It's painfully obvious that there are way too many of these pop/punk bands out there, clogging the airwaves, MTV beach parties, and any films that are geared toward the kids. But every once in a while, the talent in a band outweighs the fact that they are being lumped into a packed genre. Enter Chicago band Blacktop Mourning, and their album No Regrets, which is the first release on Counting Crows' Adam Duritz' new label, Tyrannosaurus Records. Lead guitarist and bandleader Max Steger is only 18, and has been labeled as a prodigy since he was 11. But take all that away, and the fact remains that this kid already knows his way around a song. Somehow, these songs fit into their intended genre, but the musicianship and sophistication of the song structures and arrangements are mature beyond their years. The fact that Duritz and Crows guitarist David Immergluck contributed as producers doesn't hurt either, because those guys surely know how to churn out hits. Some of the up-tempo songs tend to run into each other, but they are still good tracks nonetheless, with the standouts being "Halfway to Midnight" and "These Times Call." In addition, the band shows its versatility on "Hardly Recognize," a made-for-TV teen anthem if ever there was one. Comparisons to Green Day are going to be made, and Blacktop Mourning has the potential for that same kind of longevity. ~Mike Farley


Amplifier Magazine says:

BLACKTOP MOURNING
TYRANNOSAURUS (05/15/07)

Blacktop Mourning is one of two inaugural signings on Counting Crow Adam Duritz' new record label, Tyrannosaurus Records (T-Recs, get it?). Allegedly discovered on MySpace.com, the band has already scored spots on various MTV shows with its accessible brand of hooky pop-punk. Its debut full-length breaks no new ground, following closely in the steps of like-minded bands like New Found Glory, but what it does bring is some of the most insanely catchy songs this side of bubblegum pop. Vocals soar, accented by heavy harmonies, and the guitar work is more melodic than one would expect out of a genre that typically relies on repetitive chugging. The riff in "These Times Call" lodges itself in your frontal lobe and refuses to be shaken free, the harmonies on the super-ballad "Hardly Recognize" (with vocal support from Duritz) could easily bring a weaker man to tears, and the instrumental work on the near seven-minute album closer, "As Time Crawls By," is positively metal. But the piece de resistance might be "Don't Defend," with its shake-and-shimmy electric guitar, chiming acoustic six-string, and plaintive piano intro culminating in an ultra-rocking pop-punk epic for the ages. If Blacktop Mourning can transcend the limitations of the genre to which it's most closely aligned, the sky will be the limit.

--Frank Valish

The Oklahoman Newspaper says:

Rock
Counting Crows front man Adam Duritz chose newcomers Blacktop Mourning as the first group to release an album on his new label.

The rock-pop-punk band affirms his faith in them with its promising debut, "No Regret," which will be released Tuesday.

Duritz discovered the Chicago-based group on MySpace.com, where its music also caught the attention of MTV. The band's songs have been played on several MTV shows.

Max Steger, 18, a guitar prodigy and songwriter, leads Blacktop Mourning. His nimble fingers are the band's greatest asset. He and rhythm guitarist Shawn Nystrand work together to craft the rich, diverse guitar sound that defines the album.

They set a brooding tone on "As Time Crawls By," the disc's 6 1/2 -minute finale, but their fingers race through the head-banger "Halfway to Midnight." Their licks are bouncy and somehow wistful on the pop tune "Don't Defend."

The guitarists get plenty of help from able bassist Nate Wethy and drummer Greg Gerard.

Joe Levand provides powerful, often emotional vocals without whining, and Duritz's voice sounds better than ever as he backs Levand on four tracks.

— Brandy McDonnell


And of course, as I mentioned before...

AbsolutePunk.net says:

Blacktop Mourning - No Regret
Posted on 05-09-07 by FallonRules
Blacktop Mourning - No Regret
Label: Tyrannosaurus Records
Producers: Max Steger, Adam Duritz and David Immergluck
Release Date: May 15, 2007

Seems like lately, bands that were once huge adult-alternative radio fixtures are being hailed as "scene icons". From the resurgence of Third Eye Blind and the utmost praise for Goo Goo Dolls, those guys you see on late-night compilation commercials are now labeled as inspiration for today's big bands.

Most recently, Counting Crows' frontman Adam Duritz has been getting loads of praise from artists like Dashboard Confessional (who featured him on their last album), and now with his recent new-found success in the music world, he has just started up his own record label. Called Tyrannosaurus Records (T-Recs, get it?), Duritz's first signing was Chicago's Blacktop Mourning, which gained a lot of notoriety on MySpace and earned themselves a contract with MTV to feature music on their programs, all before they were even signed.

Now after only a couple months from being signed, the young pop-punk band is preparing to release their terrific debut, No Regret, which is a perfect title for such an album, full of edgy pop hooks and powerful emotion. The band - consisting of 18-year old guitar prodigy Max Steger (who also co-produces the disc), Shawn Nystrand on rhythm guitar, Nate Wethy taking bass duties, Greg Gerard on drums and vocalist Joe Levand - is destined to be one of this year's next big breakthrough acts. They have a sound that is familiar to fans of bands like Fall Out Boy (circa 2003), Yellowcard and The Academy Is..., and with Duritz's seal of approval, they are likely to take off about as quickly as they came in.

Beginning with the piano-led introductory track, "6AM," the album shifts into what it predominately exceeds at, pure energetic, hard-edged pop-punk. "Halfway To Midnight" is about finding redemption, and uses layered vocals by Levand to convey somebody arguing with themselves, while reeling in the listener with distorted guitars and fast-paced choruses. The anthemic "Future's Gone" blends acoustic rhythm with bombastic guitars, while "Don't Defend" goes for an old-school pop-punk feel in its choruses, while using lots of piano and acoustic guitars (matched by Steger's endless distortion guitar).

"My Only Heart" is a darker, moodier and all-around heavier number (and one of the album's finest tracks) where Steger and Nystrand battle back and forth with each other, with guitar hero Max breaking into a nifty blues-inspired rock solo. From there, we are led into the soaring and upbeat "These Times Call," where Levand goes from crooner to bitter middle-finger saluter. It's the album's most pop-punk inspired number as a whole, and like all their songs, doesn't use traditional verse-chorus-verse methods to reach a quick result; the band takes their time to get to the core of their songs (most songs are over the four-minute mark), which make them stand out from their peers.

"Your First Crime" is another anthemic blast, full of breezy musicianship and power chords to make your hair stand on end. "Hardly Recognize" is a slow-moving ballad (the lone one on the album) that displays a sincere pallet of feeling and accompanied by Duritz's vocals (he lends his distinctive chops to three other songs, as well), makes it one of the album's most moving cuts, despite the Richard Marx-like cheesy guitar solo sandwiched in the middle.

The sounds of deep, chest-thumping drums and indie-rock guitar make the skeleton for the energetic "Another Day," which is then followed by the first-class and moody "Buried My Eyes," which doesn't stand out particularly, but is still catchy enough. The album closes with the 6 minute 41 second epic "As Time Crawls By," which is mostly used to showcase the musical talents of this young band (especially the extraordinary skills of eclectic guitarist Steger), as Levand has taken the album to display his impressive vocal abilities.

With all the production done very well by Duritz and producing partner David Immergluck (along with the band's Max Steger), these newcomers sound like refined pros, and there is no doubt that they will be one of the year's most buzzed about bands. The musicianship is tight and clean, with pop-pun hooks backed by blues-inspired riffage, the lyrics stay away from typical pop-punk clichés and they bring atmosphere to each song, changing the personality of each tune presented. And standing at 45 minutes long, the 11 tracks that make up the disc are neither less or more - they fit the length just right.

Easily one of 2007's best releases, for fans of pop-punk with flair and edge attached, look no further than Blacktop Mourning - you'll have no regrets after hearing these young talents. And be sure to thank Adam Duritz for one more item of praise after you're done.


So there you have it. May 15th, 2007. Blacktop Mourning-No Regret is in stores today and, of course, also at Amazon.com and the iTunes Store as well. Save the fucking music. Go out and buy a god damn record today.

Dated Thursday May 10, 2007 11pm
Greenwich Village, NYC

This has been a pretty good day for me. I went shopping and bought a bunch of clothes. Holy crap, I sound like a girl. It' s just that I was embarrassed shopping for so long and it was nice to just feel stress-free and good about myself while I tried on a bunch of stuff that all fit me comfortably and easily. It was a nice feeling. It was a really nice feeling.

It's good to have days where you feel nice.

I'm a little worried about some friends of mine. Some of them are having a hard time right now and there's nothing I can do to help. There's nothing anyone can really do to help their friends sometimes except just be there for them and be a friend. Sometimes you just have to accept that THAT is enough. It's just weird because I'm usually the mess but I feel good these days. The record is all recorded, we start mixing on Sunday, I'm going to my high school reunion this weekend, I'm 50 lbs lighter than I was in January, and I just feel ok. A little distant and a little untethered and I haven't been on a date in ages because I can't really relate or connect to other human beings sooooooo...it's not like I'm a poster child for mental stability or anything but...I still feel ok.

And maybe ok is enough for a nice Thursday like today.

In other news, we (meaning T-Recs) just got our order of Himalayans t-shirts in. They're really cool. We're going to put them up for sale soon in the Dino-Store and we're trying to sort out some kind of t-shirt/cd combo bargain price too. We just need to get the numbers worked out.

But that's not what I actually started writing this note to talk to you about. I wanted to remind everyone that the first real release on Tyrannosaurus Records, Blacktop Mourning's debut album "No Regret" comes out on May 15th, which is, in case you can't do the math thing, this Tuesday. It was produced by Max Steger, Blacktop's lead guitarist and songwriter, and The Devil and The Bunny Show (which is what me and Immy decided to call our little production duo...and our radio show and our secret concert in New Orleans and our children when we eventually have them and pretty much everything else we'll ever do in our lives...except neither of us uses either The Devil or The Bunny as a pet name for our penis...I think...you really have to ask Immy yourself to be certain. I'm damn sure not going to).

Anyway, reviews are starting to pour in and...dum da da dum!!!!...they're all really fucking good!

Here's one from fucking AbsolutePunk.net, which is a fucking awesome and ferociously cool website and not only do they love my fucking band (BTM, not CC) and their new record but they're even nice to me. Seriously, they say some really fucking nice things about me and my band (CC, not BTM) too.

Anyway, here's the review. Check it out. And THANK YOU VERY MUCH AbsolutePunk.net!!!!

ad

Blacktop Mourning - No Regret
Posted on 05-09-07 by FallonRules
Blacktop Mourning - No Regret
Label: Tyrannosaurus Records
Producers: Max Steger, Adam Duritz and David Immergluck
Release Date: May 15, 2007

Seems like lately, bands that were once huge adult-alternative radio fixtures are being hailed as "scene icons". From the resurgence of Third Eye Blind and the utmost praise for Goo Goo Dolls, those guys you see on late-night compilation commercials are now labeled as inspiration for today's big bands.

Most recently, Counting Crows' frontman Adam Duritz has been getting loads of praise from artists like Dashboard Confessional (who featured him on their last album), and now with his recent new-found success in the music world, he has just started up his own record label. Called Tyrannosaurus Records (T-Recs, get it?), Duritz's first signing was Chicago's Blacktop Mourning, which gained a lot of notoriety on MySpace and earned themselves a contract with MTV to feature music on their programs, all before they were even signed.

Now after only a couple months from being signed, the young pop-punk band is preparing to release their terrific debut, No Regret, which is a perfect title for such an album, full of edgy pop hooks and powerful emotion. The band - consisting of 18-year old guitar prodigy Max Steger (who also co-produces the disc), Shawn Nystrand on rhythm guitar, Nate Wethy taking bass duties, Greg Gerard on drums and vocalist Joe Levand - is destined to be one of this year's next big breakthrough acts. They have a sound that is familiar to fans of bands like Fall Out Boy (circa 2003), Yellowcard and The Academy Is..., and with Duritz's seal of approval, they are likely to take off about as quickly as they came in.

Beginning with the piano-led introductory track, "6AM," the album shifts into what it predominately exceeds at, pure energetic, hard-egded pop-punk. "Halfway To Midnight" is about finding redemption, and uses layered vocals by Levand to convey somebody arguing with themselves, while reeling in the listener with distorted guitars and fast-paced choruses. The anthemic "Future's Gone" blends acoustic rhythm with bombastic guitars, while "Don't Defend" goes for an old-school pop-punk feel in its choruses, while using lots of piano and acoustic guitars (matched by Steger's endless distortion guitar).

"My Only Heart" is a darker, moodier and all-around heavier number (and one of the album's finest tracks) where Steger and Nystrand battle back and forth with each other, with guitar hero Max breaking into a nifty blues-inspired rock solo. From there, we are led into the soaring and upbeat "These Times Call," where Levand goes from crooner to bitter middle-finger saluter. It's the album's most pop-punk inspired number as a whole, and like all their songs, doesn't use traditional verse-chorus-verse methods to reach a quick result; the band takes their time to get to the core of their songs (most songs are over the four-minute mark), which make them stand out from their peers.

"Your First Crime" is another anthemic blast, full of breezy musicianship and power chords to make your hair stand on end. "Hardly Recognize" is a slow-moving ballad (the lone one on the album) thats displays a sincere pallet of feeling and accompanied by Duritz's vocals (he lends his distinctive chops to three other songs, as well), makes it one of the album's most moving cuts, despite the Richard Marx-like cheesy guitar solo sandwiched in the middle.

The sounds of deep, chest-thumping drums and indie-rock guitar make the skeleton for the energetic "Another Day," which is then followed by the first-class and moody "Buried My Eyes," which doesn't stand out particularly, but is still catchy enough. The album closes with the 6 minute 41 second epic "As Time Crawls By," which is mostly used to showcase the musical talents of this young band (especially the extraordinary skills of eclectic guitarist Steger), as Levand has taken the album to display his impressive vocal abilities.

With all the production dones very well by Duritz and producing partner David Immergluck (along with the band's Max Steger), these newcomers sound like refined pros, and there is no doubt that they will be one of the year's most buzzed about bands. The musicianship is tight and clean, with pop-pun hooks backed by blues-inspired riffage, the lyrics stay away from typical pop-punk cliches and they bring atmosphere to each song, changing the personality of each tune presented. And standing at 45 minutes long, the 11 tracks that make up the disc are neither less or more - they fit the length just right.

Easily one of 2007's best releases, for fans of pop-punk with flair and edge attached, look no further than Blacktop Mourning - you'll have no regrets after hearing these young talents. And be sure to thank Adam Duritz for one more item of praise after you're done.

Dated Sunday April 22, 2007 1:26am
Berkeley, CA Same fucking bedroom

Today is the BIG day for the release of Issue #2 of "Down the Rabbit Hole-Adam's pick's (and other assorted crap)", my weekly (Okay, that turned out to be total bullshit and, as I'm two days late on the bi-weekly thing already and three weeks seems more likely, THAT's not looking very impressive right now either) picks and recommendations webzine.

This is the Issue wherein Adam learns that putting out a magazine that he writes entirely by himself while simultaneously making an album and running an independent record company is not the sort of thing one promises to do every week or even every other week unless one is a proper fucking idiot. I got this one in just a little under a three week deadline but THAT IS IT for that schedule. From now on we're going monthly.

Issue #2 feature's MUSIC articles on Jackson Browne and The Beach Boys, DVD MOVIE articles about a Paul Newman Box Set, The Great Raid, and one of my favorite romances of the past decade, Two Family House, DVD TV articles about the American shows Carnivale (well, sort of...ok, not really) and Twin Peaks (that's actually true) and my favorite British mystery show ever, Cracker. There's also a BOOK recommendation of Bill Willingham's epic Graphic Novels/series Fables, and, realizing the Jazz and Heritage Festival is fast approaching, an article about places to go eat in New Orleans.

Issue #1 featured, in case you're interested, included MUSIC recommendations of Sufjan Stevens-Come on Feel The Illinoise, Marvin Gaye-At The Copa, Jackson 5-In Japan!, two Special Edition collectible releases of PANIC! AT THE DISCO-A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, Dashboard Confessional-A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar and a discussion of Emo songwriting in general. It had DVD MOVIE recommendations of Ong Bak-The Thai Warrior, the 40-film package 20th Century Fox Studio Classics Collection Boxed Set, and the classic Jimmy Stewart movie The Shop Around the Corner, and DVD TV recommendations of the American series Threshold and the British series Jeeves and Wooster starring House M.D.'s Hugh Laurie. The BOOK article was on the novel The Sportswriter by Richard Ford.

So click right below and Welcome to Issue #2!

Dated April 11, 2007 9:45am PST (I'm up early today)
(Still, as I mentioned before in my fucking (but dearly loved-she really is my best friend) little sister's old bedroom since (as I also mentioned before) my mom and dad gutted MY room and turned it into a fucking office pretty much at the same time the door was hitting me in the ass on my way out of the house)

I wrote about a month ago, on March 9th, that it was a really big day for me. We were, at the time, just about to put The Himalayans' unreleased album up for pre-sale. I thought it would be a good idea to put it up for pre-sale but I had no idea how many of you would actually come out and buy it, especially since, on those 1st few days, you were going to have wait a little over a month to even get the album in the mail. The funny thing is that people have continued to order the album steadily every day since then.

I want to thank you. My bandmates want to thank you. I think you're going to really love the record, even if you already had an older copy, because we never really had a chance to properly master it before and this new re-mastered version just sounds a thousand times better. It always sounded really thin and uneven before and now it sounds like a real record.

On top of that, it's just been a great month for all the guys in The Himalayans. We've all been talking and getting re-acquainted and sending photos and posters and laughing at how young we all look and how weird it is to see me without dreads and...yes, AND how ridiculous those pants I used to wear were. Marty Jones came by the studio the other day. I missed him but Immy said he looked great. Dave Janusko came by a few days ago and spent a whole evening in the studio with us. Chris lives in Austin but we've been emailing and I haven't seen Dan yet but I'm hoping he'll come over this week sometime. Anyway. It's just been a great month.

I'm bring in all this up because tomorrow, April 12, 2007 IS the big day. Tomorrow, over fifteen years since it was first recorded, we will be releasing the only record we ever made, The Himalayans-She Likes The Weather. It's going to be released on my label Tyrannosaurus Records through our Dino-Store. It will only be available at the Dino-Store at http://www.tyrannosaurusrecords.net and we're not sure what the demand's going to be, so we're not sure how many we're going to order. In other words, if you want your copy, order it now or tomorrow or soon and you'll have it pretty soon after that (although if people REALLY seem to want it, we'll probably just keep ordering more so don't worry too much).

I was going to tell The Himalayans' story again but I just re-read my post of a month ago and I don't really think I can do it any better than that. SO, if you've already read this next part, ignore it, and if you haven't, this is the story of our band:

The best part of being a musician for me has always been the joys of being in a band. I've always loved the collaboration. I get off on the unexpected surprises of improvisation and the glorious shattering moments of inspiration that come from playing with other people. Most of all, I always loved the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. Maybe it comes from growing up and moving around a lot or maybe it just comes from being the kind of person who always spent too much of his life alone. Either way, I never wanted to be a solo artist. Not for one day. Not for one hour. Not ever.

I've been lucky too, in my life, because I got to be in some great bands over the course of my life and I finally settled in one that was good enough (and lucky enough) that we're still here some 18 years after Dave Bryson and Marty Jones (yes, THAT "Jones") and I first got together to record some demos in Dave's studio, Dancing Dog, in the late Spring of 1989. Those demos, recorded just before I left to go backpacking around Europe so I could quit playing music and get on with my life, turned out to be the reason I finally realized I couldn't ever quit playing music. So I came home from Europe and Marty and Dave and I formed the first incarnation of Counting Crows.

That band recorded some good music but we never played a live show and eventually we all went our separate ways. I sat around for a while, not doing much, in the warehouse Immy and I lived in down by the train tracks on 4th Street in Berkeley until one day Immy came home and handed me a copy of the SF Weekly with an ad circled in the classified section. It was an advertisement for a band looking for a singer.

"Get off your ass and call these guys," Immy said to me, "The ad's silly. These guys sound fucking ridiculous. They're probably the perfect band for you. Anyway, you gotta get of your ass and play some music."

So I called and they said they'd pretty much already decided on a singer but they invited me to audition the next night anyway. I drove over to San Francisco figuring it was a waste of a trip but, what the hell?

I met the guys and they were all pretty cool. Dave Janusko played bass, Dan Jewett played guitar, and Chris Roldan played drums. They asked if I wanted to try some covers or something but I just said play one of your songs and let's see how it goes. So they started playing and I started singing...

...and it was magic. I'd never played music like this before. It was way different from anything I could ever have written. But it was perfect. Words just came out of me. Thankfully they were taping the audition because I think we wrote most of three or four of our first songs right there during the audition. It was like I'd been playing these songs forever. We played for about forty minutes and stopped. And then we all just stood standing there in a circle, sweating and staring at each other in that tiny basement rehearsal space. I don't exactly remember what happened next but I think someone just said, "...Uhhh...you're in the band."

And The Himalayans was born.

It was probably the greatest period of musical productivity of my entire life. I was still occasionally playing open mikes and acoustic shows with Dave Bryson as Counting Crows, and a little while after that I also started doing all the harmonies for and playing with Sordid Humor too.

But the center of it all for me was The Himalayans. It was entirely liberating for me because I didn't have to write any of the music. They just created this insane funky, acidic, psychedelic swirl underneath me and I just sang over the top of it. I wasn't in charge and I didn't have any more responsibilities than anybody else did. They just played and I just sang and then we went and ate at Mi Mazatlan, the little Salvadoran restaurant on the corner by our tiny Mission District underground rehearsal space.

Somewhere in there, our rehearsal space got robbed and we lost everything. Instead of buying a new bass, Dave Janusko, who was really a guitarist, said he wanted to go back to playing guitar, so we just asked my old bass player Marty Jones to join the band and we became a five-piece.

I played a gig or rehearsed with one band or another (of the three I somehow managed to find time to belong to) almost ever night for over a year. And on the few nights I wasn't working myself, I'd go see Dan and Charlie play with Patrick Winningham or our friend Steve Bowman drum for A Mad Affair or watch Immy do a gig with Monks of Doom or The Ophelias or Camper Van Beethoven (or whoever the hell it was he was playing with that week). My life was music every night and it was incredible.

Like everything in life though, it didn't last forever. Dave Bryson and I had been trying out different versions of Counting Crows ever since the first one broke up. It was no big deal. We'd just play some open mikes or acoustic shows and every once in awhile, we'd go into Dancing Dog and record a few demos. They all turned out pretty cool but it was all just a side project. Then one time we went in with his old bass player Matt and our friend Steve, (whose band rehearsed downstairs) and I asked Charlie Gillingham, who I'd known longer than anyone (we'd met at the first public gig I'd ever played), to come play keyboards. We recorded an new song I'd written with Dave called "Rain King", a song from Dave's old band Mr. Dog, and a cover of a Himalayans song called "Round Here".

It just worked. Something about it just worked. And it was the beginning of the end for everything else.

You know the rest of the story. What you don't know is how that felt, or feels (because it still hurts like a loss even now). I loved Sordid Humor. I thought Tom Barnes was the greatest songwriter I'd ever met. I was happy just to sing harmonies in his band. I loved being a part of that. I still listen to those songs with pride.

What really hurt, though, was leaving The Himalayans because I loved that band so much. I felt utterly free in that band. But I also realized that a part of that freedom was that I wasn't burdened with the responsibilities of being a bandleader or writing all the songs or just generally being in charge of anything.

And I now felt like I was ready to take all those things on again.

But it was really hard to leave because they were the heart and the soul and the core and the center of the greatest musical period of my life up until that point. I would eventually have other moments, and my life in music has been amazing and incredibly rewarding, but leaving that band was the hardest decision I ever had to make.

So what I'm trying to say is that a part of the life of every musician is the people he plays with, and, for me, they've always been the most important part. You've all heard Counting Crows. You have all the records. But there's a big part of my life that I've never been able to share with most of you. It's a part of my life I'm intensely proud of and it's a part of my life that I shared with people who meant, and mean, the world to me. It's a part of my life without which I could never have become who I am.

It just matters.

So my partner Nicole and I talked it over and then I called Dan Jewett. Dan called Chris and Dave and I called Marty.

We want our legacy to matter and we want people to remember that we were here. That, once upon a time, four (and later five) guys had a basement rehearsal space, that we wrote a lot of great songs, that "Round Here" was one of them, and that we had a band that people in San Francisco packed the clubs to see. Mostly, we just want people to remember that we were here.

Sooooo (and here's the big announcement part)...

Tyrannosaurus Records is proud to announce that, on Thursday, April 12, 2007, we will finally be releasing She Likes the Weather, the long lost album by legendary (at least to us) San Francisco band The Himalayans, featuring me (vocals), Dave Janusko (guitar and bass), Dan Jewett (lead guitar), Marty Jones (bass) and Chris Roldan (drums). The 17-track album comprises the complete recordings of The Himalayans including 3 songs produced by Counting Crows' guitarist Dave Bryson, one of which is The Himalayans' original version of "Round Here" (later covered by Counting Crows).

The record has been available online before this but it was never really mastered and, as a result, it's never really sounded the way we all felt it should. It's now been properly mastered and given the sonic treatment it deserved while preserving the raw live quality that makes it what it is (which, by the way, we really have no choice about since most of it was recorded very raw and very live. Fuck off! It was indie rock).


It is, as of tomorrow, April 12, 2007 (or right now, depending on when you're reading this) available at the Dino-Store at Tyrannosaurus Records. It will, as I mentioned before, ONLY be available through the Dino-Store. We are not planning on selling it anywhere else. Order your copy now and it will be shipped to you right away!

So come hear She Likes The Weather. Come hear the sound of my life back then. Come hear the sound that came before the music you know. Come hear the sound that made the sound.

Come hear The Himalayans.

ad

ps. Our MySpace page is at: www.myspace.com/thehimalayans (of course) and our own website is at http://www.thehimalayans.com

Also for the rest of my CountingCrows.com diary archives, you can read about them here in My Diary Archives and you can find my new online magazine Down The Rabbit Hole-Adam's Picks (and other assorted crap) at http://www.DownTheRabbitHoleMagazine.com.

Or you can just click right here:



<br>
Also, don't forget, Blacktop Mourning's debut release No Regrets will be in stores on May 15th. Visit
Blacktop Mourning at www.myspace.com/blacktopmourning or at blacktopmourning.com.

Also check out Tyrannosaurus Records' other great artist NOTAR at myspace.com/buckfooly.

ad

Dated March 9, 2007 12:30am
Greenwich Village, NY

Today is a really big day for me. It's a day I've waited years to see.

The best part of being a musician for me has always been the joys of being in a band. I've always loved the collaboration. I get off on the unexpected surprises of improvisation and the glorious shattering moments of inspiration that come from playing with other people. Most of all, I always loved the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. Maybe it comes from growing up and moving around a lot or maybe it just comes from being the kind of person who always spent too much of his life alone. Either way, I never wanted to be a solo artist. Not for one day. Not for one hour. Not ever.

I've been lucky too, in my life, because I got to be in some great bands over the course of my life and I finally settled in one that was good enough (and lucky enough) that we're still here some 18 years after Dave Bryson and Marty Jones (yes, THAT "Jones") and I first got together to record some demos in Dave's studio Dancing Dog in the late Spring of 1989. Those demos, recorded just before I left to go backpacking around Europe so I could quit playing music and get on with my life, turned out to be the reason I finally realized I couldn't ever quit playing music. So I came home from Europe and Marty and Dave and I formed the first incarnation of Counting Crows.

That band recorded some good music but we never played a live show and eventually we all went our separate ways. I sat around for a while, not doing much, in the warehouse Immy and I lived in down by the train tracks on 4th Street in Berkeley until one day Immy came home and handed me a copy of the SF Weekly with an ad circled in the classified section. It was an advertisement for a band looking for a singer.

"Get off your ass and call these guys," Immy said to me, "The ad's silly. These guys sound fucking ridiculous. They're probably the perfect band for you. Anyway, you gotta get of your ass and play some music."

So I called and they said they'd pretty much already decided on a singer but they invited me to audition the next night anyway. I drove over to San Francisco figuring it was a waste of a trip but, what the hell?

I met the guys and they were all pretty cool. Dave Janusko played bass, Dan Jewett played guitar, and Chris Roldan played drums. They asked if I wanted to try some covers or something but I just said play one of your songs and let's see how it goes. So they started playing and I started singing...

...and it was magic. I'd never played music like this before. It was way different from anything I could ever have written. But it was perfect. Words just came out of me. Thankfully they were taping the audition because I think we wrote most of three or four of our first songs right there during the audition. It was like I'd been playing these songs forever. We played for about forty minutes and stopped. And then we all just stood standing there in a circle, sweating and staring at each other in that tiny basement rehearsal space. I don't exactly remember what happened next but I think someone just said, "...Uhhh...you're in the band."

And The Himalayans was born.

It was probably the greatest period of musical productivity of my entire life. I was still occasionally playing open mikes and acoustic shows with Dave Bryson as Counting Crows, and, a little while after that, I also started doing all the harmonies for and playing with Sordid Humor too.

But the center of it all for me was The Himalayans. It was entirely liberating for me because I didn't have to write any of the music. They just created this insane funky, acidic, psychedelic swirl underneath me and I just sang over the top of it. I wasn't in charge and I didn't have any more responsibilities than anybody else did. They just played and I just sang and then we went and ate at Mi Mazatlan, the little Salvadoran restaurant on the corner by our tiny Mission District underground rehearsal space.

Somewhere in there, our rehearsal space got robbed and we lost everything. Instead of buying a new bass, Dave Janusko, who was really a guitarist, said he wanted to go back to playing guitar, so we just asked my old bass player Marty Jones to join the band and we became a five-piece.

I played a gig or rehearsed with one band or another (of the three I somehow managed to find time to belong to) almost ever night for over a year. And on the few nights I wasn't working myself, I'd go see Dan and Charlie play with Patrick Winningham or our friend Steve Bowman drum for A Mad Affair or watch Immy do a gig with Monks of Doom or The Ophelias or Camper Van Beethoven (or whoever the hell it was he was playing with that week). My life was music every night and it was incredible.

Like everything in life though, it didn't last forever. Dave Bryson and I had been trying out different versions of Counting Crows ever since the first one broke up. It was no big deal. We'd just play some open mikes or acoustic shows and every once in awhile, we'd go into Dancing Dog and record a few demos. They all turned out pretty cool but it was all just a side project. Then one time we went in with his old bass player Matt and our friend Steve (whose band rehearsed downstairs) and I asked Charlie Gillingham, who I'd known longer than anyone (we'd met at the first public gig I'd ever played), to come play keyboards. We recorded a new song I'd written with Dave called "Rain King", a song from Dave's old band Mr. Dog, and a cover of a Himalayans song called "Round Here".

It just worked. Something about it just worked. And it was the beginning of the end for everything else.

You know the rest of the story. What you don't know is how that felt, or feels (because it still hurts like a loss even now). I loved Sordid Humor. I thought Tom Barnes was the greatest songwriter I'd ever met. I was happy just to sing harmonies in his band. I loved being a part of that. I still listen to those songs with pride.

What really hurt, though, was leaving The Himalayans because I loved that band so much. I felt utterly free in that band. But I also realized that a part of that freedom was that I wasn't burdened with the responsibilities of being a bandleader or writing all the songs or just generally being in charge of anything.

And I now felt like I was ready to take all those things on again.

But it was really hard to leave because they were the heart and the soul and the core and the center of the greatest musical period of my life up until that point. I would eventually have other moments, and my life in music has been amazing and incredibly rewarding, but leaving that band was the hardest decision I ever had to make.

So what I'm trying to say is that a part of the life of every musician is the people he plays with and, for me, they've always been the most important part. You've all heard Counting Crows. You have all the records. But there's a big part of my life that I've never been able to share with most of you. It's a part of my life I'm intensely proud of and it's a part of my life that I shared with people who meant, and mean, the world to me. It's a part of my life without which I could never have become who I am.

It just matters.

So my partner Nicole and I talked it over and then I called Dan Jewett. Dan called Chris and Dave and I called Marty.

We want our legacy to matter and we want people to remember that we were here. That, once upon a time, four (and later five) guys had a basement rehearsal space, that we wrote a lot of great songs, that "Round Here" was one of them, and that we had a band that people in San Francisco packed the clubs to see. Mostly, we just want people to remember that we were here.

Sooooo (and here's the big announcement part)...

Tyrannosaurus Records is proud to announce that, on Thursday, April 12, 2007, we will finally be releasing "She Likes the Weather", the long lost album by legendary (at least to us) San Francisco band The Himalayans, featuring me (vocals), Dave Janusko (guitar and bass), Dan Jewett (lead guitar), Marty Jones (bass) and Chris Roldan (drums). The 17-track album comprises the complete recordings of The Himalayans including 3 songs produced by Counting Crows' guitarist Dave Bryson, one of which is The Himalayans' original version of "Round Here" (later covered by Counting Crows).

The record has been available online before this but it was never really mastered and, as a result, it's never really sounded the way we all felt it should. We are now in the process of properly mastering the album and giving it the sonic treatment it deserves while preserving the raw live quality that makes it what it is (which, by the way, we really have no choice about since most of it was recorded very raw and very live. Fuck off! It was indie rock).

It is, as of right now, available for pre-order at the Dino-Store at Tyrannosaurus Records. It will ONLY be available through the Dino-Store. We are not planning on selling it anywhere else. Order your copy now and it will be shipped to you on the day of its' release!

So come hear "She Likes The Weather". Come hear the sound of my life back then. Come hear the sound that came before the music you know. Come hear the sound that made the sound.

Come hear The Himalayans.

ad

ps. Our MySpace page is at The Himalayans' MySpace page (of course)

Also for the rest of my CountingCrows.com diary archives, you can read about them here in My Diary Archives.

If you've been digging the music on my page, I wanted to let you know where you can find it.

The 1st band I had up was The Canvas Sytem from Bath in the UKwith their song "Just A Girl With a Frown". Such a great song and they have some other great ones on their MySpace page. You can find them either on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thecanvassystem or on their website at...well, that's not online yet so check out their MySpace page. They're working on an album right now but it's not quite finished yet. Stay tuned. I think they're going to be a cool band.

The latest band is Hello from New York City. I started out with their song "Timebomb", then switched to "Contact", and I'm now playing "Glowbots". I'll probably play one more song of theirs, "Anything Can Happen", later this week bewfore switching to someone else. I'm a little biased becasue Melissa Lefton, Hello's singer, is my friend Mike's sister but I still think they're fucking great. But then I looooooove Beatle-esque pop music like theirs. She reminds me of Bonnie Hayes. Well, you don't know who Bonnie Hayes is and her really great albums are out of print so forget I said that.

Anyway, you can find Hello on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/hellotunes or at their website, which does exist, at http://helloartsociety.com/bid.php?sku=123. The cool thing about their website is thaqt you can buy their record there and since it's great and their website is the ONLY place you can buy it...that makes it a cool website.

I should also mention that if you want a glimpse< and it's worth a look, into Melissa's unfortunately aborted previous about-to-be career as an "anti-Britney" teen pop star (her record was set to be released on September 11, 2001-Oops), you have to go to YouTube and check out her stuff. First of all, you can see the video for what was to be her 1st single, the wonderfully sarcastic and bizarre "This Is My Hit Song". Then you have to check our the outrageous and strange MTV's Behind The Music spoof of herself she made called "Behind The Muse part 1". I have no idea how this shit got made but it is complete bullshit and completely fucking hysterical. I don't know how to describe this tale of a vapid chick's meteoric rise and eventual fall into obscurity and a horrific addiction to mainlining Sunny Delight except to say that at one point it all leads to this statement:

"I made love to sweaty bums just to score a hit of Sunny D., and it didn't feel good on my vagina."

What more can I say?

If you're still digging it at that point, there's also a very dopey video of her twisted road trip to the Grand Canyon called "Miserable Traveller".

She's her own thing, that's for sure.

That's all folks.

ad

Dated Wednesday April 4th, 2007 12:04am PST
Berkeley, CA
Mom and Dad's house (specifically my little sister's old bedroom since
they gutted my room and turned it into a fucking office 5 minutes after
I was out of the house)

Dear Sirs and Madams,

I have come to you today to speak to you of several things. First of
all, let me thank all of you for making Sunday, April 1st, 2007 one on
the funniest fucking days of my entire life. I don't think, as long as
I've lived, I've ever actually pulled off a successful April Fools Day
prank before. I know I never pulled off one of this magnitude, and
what's even better is that it was almost entirely an accident. But I'll
get back to that later in this missive and tell you the full story.
Before I get to that let me tell you about something else...




TODAY IS THE DAY!!!


Welcome to EVEN-BIGGER-THAN-THE-LAST-OH-SO-VERY-BIG
ANNOUNCEMENT for my formerly nonexistent but now newborn online
magazine "Down the Rabbit Hole-Adam's pick's (and other assorted crap)".
Issue #1, of which I am VERY proud because I worked very hard on it (and
so did my friend and WebMegaMaster Lisa), can be found right here at http://www.DownTheRabbitHoleMagazine.com. In fact, Issue #2
(if it actually existed yet) could (and will) be found there as well.
Having previously informed you of my intentions to publish an issue
every week (and warned you about the possible general bullshit-iness of
that statement), I can now confirm that the ACTUAL bullshit-iness (I
love my new word I just invented-use it for free) of that statement was
fairly, if unintentionally, high. I'm going to try and publish every TWO
weeks just because now I realize how much time and work it takes so I'm
a little clearer on the concept.

Basically, I'm a huge geek, and my particular geekiness comes out in the
form of my obsession with music and books and movies and TV shows and
basically anything that fits alphabetically on a shelf. So I've decided
since I like writing about them and talking about them so much, I'm
going to write my own little magazine and publish it online and tell you
all about stuff I think is cool and where you can find it. This way if I
want to tell you about my obsession with something, you can just click
on it and the magazine will take you to someplace safe and warm where
you can buy it if you want to at your own pleasure. That way you don't
have to go searching for it because some (not all) of these things might
be a little obscure.

I'm going to put it up on all my blogs today, and probably in the future
as well, but if you'd like to just subscribe to the magazine, there's a
place right there at the top on the right (or at that link you just passed) where you can do just that. Don't worry, it's
free. It'll just send you an email and notify you every time there's a
new issue. Then you just push the link in the email and...Presto!!!
You're happily sliding Down the Rabbit Hole.

This way, as I mentioned before and will mention again (Fuck it. It's
just easier to copy and paste this paragraph than to figure out a way to
re-write basically the same shit over and over again), my regular diary
can be a little more about my life in general and there in The Rabbit Hole, I can talk a little more about music and movies and
books and DVDs and all that stuff that I really enjoy writing about, as
well as looking for places that have weird collectable Counting Crows
stuff we don't sell on our website that YOU might enjoy.

So that's that.

Now here's the story on Sunday...

Basically, I got home from work pretty late Saturday night and I was
tired but I was feeling pretty excited about the way everything was
going at work so I decided to change the songs on the CC MySpace page.
"Rarities Week" had lasted about two weeks already so, at least in my
mind, it was time for "Under the Covers" week! So I switched the songs
and wrote some stuff and got ready to mail it in, which is when I
realized I'd forgotten to put the whole "Dated blah di blah blah blah at
blah AM" thing at the top of the page. By then it was a little after
2am, so when I clicked on the time/date thing at the top of my Mac,
that's when I saw...

...April 1, 2007...heh...

...and that's when the fact that I'm sort of a dick kicked in.

Sooooo I went back and wrote the beginning of the email, which was
actually a lot of fun, and then I went to bed...

...and woke up to over 1000 emails on MySpace and general panic and
chaos everywhere. My tour manager Tom called me in his cute little Irish
accent and said, "What the fuck happened last night?" I was on the other
line so I told him to hang on while I got off the phone with my friend
Greg. By the time I got back, he'd gotten to the bottom of the page and
was only really capable of saying "Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck"!!!
over and over again before hanging up on me. Apparently one of our
backline techs awoke Sunday morning to his wife repeatedly hitting him
over the head with a newspaper while screaming "Do you know what those
fuckers you work for did last night? They broke up! Now what the hell
are you going to do for work you son of a bitch?!!!"

For all of you who thought you were the only one fooled, I want you to
know that I only got 20 emails from people who said "I knew it was a
joke all along". Most of your emails were hysterical. Everybody seemed
to have had a pretty damn good time. I spent the entire day in tears,
laughing and reading emails.

But none of it really came anywhere close to the delirious joy caused by
this particular email:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam,

I think you have had enough fun but at the same time I felt compelled to
share this with you.

--Jim


Begin forwarded message:

From: "millard powers"
Date: April 2, 2007 12:10:20 AM PDT
To: "jim bogios
Subject: Adam's email

Did you get Adam's email? Is he serious? What the hell happened
after I left last night? Fill me in if you know anything. Thanks dude.

--Millard

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what can I say? You are not alone.

Happy April.

Spring is coming and so are we.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my magazine because I had a lot of fun
writing it.

Sooooooooooo...without further ado...

...Welcome to Issue #1 of



Have fun.

Dated April 1, 2007 Berkeley, California 4am

I'm sorry to announce that in the middle of recording tonight, we had a huge fight and a bunch of people said a bunch of things they should never have said. I guess sometimes you just hold things in for so long that they just have to come out. Unfortunately it happened in front of some of the guy's wives and girlfriends and when they got involved as well, the whole thing just escalated. It was horrible.

The end result was that Dave and Dan have left the band. I guess Immy and Charlie and I will try and finish the record with Jim and Millard. I suppose it's possible if Immy just plays all the guitar parts himself. Either way, this is going to be the last Counting Crows record. It's too bad really. I was starting to feel like this might have been our best album, topping even "Recovering The Satellites".

I guess nothing lasts forever. To tell you the truth, I was getting really tired of the touring and all the nightmarish promotion and marketing and general record business bullshit. In a way, there's a lot about this that I won't miss at all. That's a stupid thing to say. There are parts I hated but I will miss most of this more than I will ever be able to express.

Anyway, I want to thank all of you for all the years of support and love. We will always appreciate everything all of you gave us over the past 15 years. Thank you so much and good bye. I think this will be my last diary entry. I just don't think I have the heart for it anymore.























Just kidding. Happy April Fools Day MUTHAFUCKERS!!!!!!

Truthfully, the recording is amazing. I loooooooove this fucking record more than you can possibly imagine. Song after song is coming out sounding incredible and this half of the record is night and day different from the other half. I just love going to work every day. It's just all so creative and satisfying.

To celebrate what a great week we had in the studio, I decided this was going to be Covers Week on The Counting Crows MySpace page so all the songs will be from the unreleased "Under The Covers" we recorded by ourselves one weekend during the "Hard Candy" sessions when Lilywhite was out of town.

We got "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", a Bob Dylan song from the Basement Tapes sessions. It was also recorded by the Byrds on the album "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" album. I have no idea what the hell this song is about. It's one of those Dylan songs where the lyric is so good that it doesn't even matter that none of the words seem to make any sense at all. Fucking nonsense as far as I can tell but somehow it still makes total sense to me. We got the fucker in one tape, as you will hear me clearly state at the end of the song. You try and pull that shit off.

Next up is "Ooh La La" by The Faces from the album of the same name. The Faces of course featured Rod Stewart on lead vocals, Ron Wood (later of The Rolling Stones on guitar), Kenny Jones (later the drummer for The Who) on the kit, Ronnie Lane on bass, and Ian McLagan on piano (also a member of the Stones, albeit an unofficial one). "Ooh La La" was one of the rare songs written and sung by Ronnie Lane. If It seems familiar, it may be because it is the song that closes the film "Rushmore". ON our version, Rod Stewart was unavailable so I sang the vocals but the rest of the instrument are still played by the The Faces...

...or are they? We were having a lot of fun recording this track. You can tell because I just don't seem to want to end the damn song. The body of the song is only 2:40 but the last chorus goes on for almost another two full minutes because I simply refuse to stop and keep calling for everyone to go around another time. We had the same problem ending "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere". I may have been a little hammered by this time. It's only fitting, after all. When The Faces released their big box set a couple years ago, they (rather fittingly) called it "Five Guys Walk Into A Bar... ".

Then we have "Start Again", maybe my favorite song by one of my favorite bands, the wonderful Scottish band Teenage Fanclub. It's cut from their album, my favorite of theirs, "Songs From Northern Britain". We decided to cut it with lots of harmonies and acoustic guitars as if it was a Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song. It's probably my favorite track on "Under The Covers". Me and Dan just sing the shit out of it and when Immy adds the high harmony, the song just soars. Plus this song features my one and only piano solo on record.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is our version of the great Jackson C Frank tune "Blues Run The Game". This one is just me and Immy. Jackson Frank was a friend and peer of Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny (of Fairport Convention), and Richard Thompson. Legend has it they all shared a flat together in London in the very early 60's. When Simon left to return to America and formed Simon and Garfunkel, they recorded "Blues Run The Game" for one of their 1st albums. It turned out great but for some reason didn't make the cut and was left off the album. It turned up years later on a Simon and Garfunkel box set called "Bookends", which is where I first heard it. Immy and I have played it many times in concert but I don't think we've ever again captured the pure emotional magic of the first perfect performance.

Nothing on "Under The Covers" overdubbed or comped together. All these songs were recorded live and this is exactly how they sounded. We recorded live and we recorded fast. I think we did 14 songs in 2 days.

Dig it cats, these are the songs we love. Hope you love 'em too.

Happy April Fools Day Fuckers and welcome to Spring.

We are back.

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Ps. In other news, the very first issue of my new online magazine Down the Rabbit Hole-Adam's Picks (and other assorted crap) will be published this coming Tuesday April 3rd. You'll be able to find it at the link above or just by writing in http://www.DownTheRabbitHoleMagazine.com.

Remember, the never-before (officially) released record by the legendary (at least in our minds) San Francisco band The Himalayans (featuring me) is being released on my indie label target="_blank">Tyrannosaurus Records and is, as of right now, available for pre-order at our Dino-Store. It will ONLY be available through the Dino-Store. We are not planning on selling it anywhere else. Order your copy now and it will be shipped to you on April 12th, the day of its' release!

Visit The Himalayans at The Himalayans' MySpace Page or at TheHimalayans.com.

Also, visit T-Recs at Tyrannosaurus Records MySpace Page and our other bands at NOTAR's MySpace Page, Blacktop Mourning's MySpace Page, and blacktopmourning.com.

Blacktop Mourning will be playing May 6th at the Bamboozle Festival at The Meadowlands In New Jersey.

They're also playing four dates on The "Kevin Says" stage on the Warped tour:

Sat 7/28 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sun 7/29 Minneapolis, MN Metrodome
Tue 7/31 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheatre
Wed 8/1 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center

And don't forget to visit CountingCrows.com.