.49 Cents

Paul Westerberg released his new album via Amazon.com this week as a digital download only for the insane WTF low price of .49 cents (forty-nine cents!)... And guess what? It's really good! Sorta low-fi and trashy sounding... Like a cassette tape.


Downloading an album goes against all of Umlaut's Music Geek morals... but if this makes Westerberg a bit more money via some behind the scenes deal, then so be it. The main downside is that the album is one long MP3 file and not individual tracks... but I suppose in that sense it's the closest thing to buying a cassette tape at Tower Records that you can experience now.

Did I mention that the album is good? I like when my old heroes reassure me like this.

Click HERE to buy 49:00 yourself... It's the best thing .49 cents will buy you here in the godforsaken 21st Century.

Left Of The Dial

A friend sent Umlaut THIS LINK for the Paul Westerberg Signature Guitar. Only $159!? Umlaut suggests that everyone reading this should buy one and teach themselves 4 chords.. Then we'll form a band and teach this bullshit town a thing or two! YEAH!!

"Pretty girl keeps growin' up, playin' make-up, wearin' guitar.."

From the Manufacturer:

First Act® Paul Westerberg Signature Guitar

First Act signature artist Paul Westerberg is one of the most influential artists of his generation—a pioneering songwriter, guitarist, and frontman of legendary status. As the leader of The Replacements, he helped pave the way for the ‘90s alternative rock revolution. The indie rock icon has recently been spotted on stage playing a guitar with a unique provenance.

While on tour, Westerberg stopped into a local mass retailer to buy shaving cream, and bought a crimson First Act ME501 electric guitar on impulse. Westerberg debuted the guitar onstage that night, and quickly brought it into heavy onstage rotation for the rest of his tour.

First Act and Paul Westerberg have come together to design a great signature rock guitar, the me580. A killer electric with a rock and roll soul.

Westerberg described his vision of the guitar: "…something not too heavy, that I could play quietly or full volume. It has a single pick-up, and it sort of snarls. It’s lean, clean, and mean, and it doesn’t have that big, overdriven, fuzzy sound. You can get that with an amp, but the guitar itself doesn’t put it out, and that’s what I was looking for. There’s a definite old-school thing—it belongs in a garage. It probably sounds best in a garage playing surf music or something like that."

Designed for rock revolutionary Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, this solid body is ready to rock! The contoured custom body shape was designed in our Studio for Artists. A deep single cutaway offers high fret access. The maple neck cradles a smooth rosewood fretboard.

One vintage-voiced single coil pickup offers a classic vintage tone. Punk rock plaid punctuates the pickguard. A tilted 3+3 headstock and our string-through retainer system maximize sustain. Die cast tuning machines provide accurate tuning. Volume and tone knobs offer quick access to sound tweaks.

"It’s just like rock ‘n’ roll ought to be." ~Paul Westerberg

* Custom body shape designed in First Act's Studio For Artists, single cutaway solid body with warm and brilliant sound, balance and high fret access
* One "vintage-voiced" Alnico magnet, soapbar style single coil pickups with classic vintage tone
* Punk rock plaid pickguard
* Retro styling with modern vibe
* Maple neck and rosewood fingerboard
* Tilted 3 + 3 headstock to maximize sustain
* Chrome die-cast tuning machines for accurate tuning
* Strings through the body with patented First Act String Retainer system, for maximum sustain and tonal reproduction
* Volume and tone controls for tone sound tweaks

Dose Of Thunder

PAUL WESTERBERG
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Feb. 21, 2005

Twas one simple thing that made The Replacements sacred to me. That "thing" was one line from the song 'Hold My Life':

"Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drone. Time for this one to come home.." *

The line is from the old t.v. cartoon Tooter Turtle which I LOVED as a child. That simple pop culture reference was enough to make The Replacements near and dear to me. The men don't know, but the music geeks understand.

Whenever I hear The Replacements I'm taken back to the mid-80's and the house where I lived in downtown San Jose, CA.. A 3 bedroom / 1.5 bath number that was only 4 houses from a freeway overpass (if you closed your eyes the 24-7 traffic almost sounded like a river).

Twas a place so filthy when we moved in there were dead mice BAKED to the inside of the stove, since that's where they had died unnoticed weeks / months before. The kitchen was so filthy that we ran a garden hose from the outside and through the kitchen window so we could literally hose it down.

Twas the quintessential music geek bachelor pad. One roommate was a buyer at Tower Records who could kick down with the employee discount. There was a makeshift recording studio in the basement for the roommates' band. A framed picture of The Cowsills (aka the real life inspiration for The Partridge Family) hung on a wall. A KISS Alive II poster hung on another. The 'Mats were a house favorite. Good times on a certain level. Shitty times on others. I was so much older then, I'm younger then that now.

Anyway, about the show:

Twas Westerberg's first performance in S.F. in almost 3 years.. and his first with a band in, I think, NINE YEARS. Wow. To be honest I haven't followed Westerberg's solo stuff since around 1999... But you could cut the music geek energy in the air with a knife every time he and the band launched into a Replacements song. When Paul chimed the intro to 'Skyway' on his acoustic 12-string I swear you could hear grown men squealing with glee like little girls at a Maroon 5 show.

BEST QUOTE -
The Wag Man: "I bet there's no one under 30 here tonight.."

Twas the type of show where a lot of faces looked familiar but I couldn't place names or context. Old music geeks had definitely come out of the woodwork. I'm sure there were a lot of past and present record store clerks in The House. Evidently tickets to this sold out gig were going for up to $70 each online. I did recognize the bassist from the Stimmies. I know what you're thinking: "Who??"

The ghost of that old house in downtown San Jose was standing next to me as Westerberg and band walked that tight rope of a careening old school rock band. A band with no brakes going downhill on a twisting gravel road. A band teetering on the verge of losing control.

They false started a cover of Zeppelin's 'Ten Years Gone' but didn't make it past the first verse. That made me grin. They slying covered Dylan's 'Only A Hobo' (found only on Dylan's 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3'). A nice music geek wink. They nailed a cover of The Partridge Family's 'I Think I Love You'. That made me smile. Twas inspiring and fun. You just don't see that kind of Lock 'N Loll very often, if ever, anymore. Talkin' 'bout my ge-ge-generation.

Finally, during 'I Will Dare', Paul did lose it when his guitar gave him problems. Grabbing the body with both hands he swung it back over his head. The tuning pegs drew blood as they hit his scalp, but he smashed the instrument against his amp, snapping the neck off. I actually cringed since I think I recognized the guitar as one he's played since The 'Mats days. It died as it lived, but the small trickle of blood from Paul's head showed it put up a fight.

The show-closing blast of 'Alex Chilton' / 'Left Of The Dial' sent the geek energy off the scale. Twas magnificent and 'Left Of The Dial' STILL gets me "right here" every time:

"Goin' out to San Francisco.. Definately not L.A..."

I tried to do a mental count of how many shows I've seen at the Great American over the years but couldn't do it. On the way back to the car some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Muchas gracias to Creep Dr. for the new C.C. Adcock CD! It truly is a small world after all! I wonder how many folks hummed 'Kiss Me On The Bus' while riding Muni home.

Geek out.

P.S. Driving to work this a.m. and making my way through the streets of S.F.. I'm still riding the buzz from the show and the iPod is playing 'Skyway'. Someone's cute, medium sized, white curly-haired dog bolts into traffic on Park Presidio Blvd. next to S.F. State. It makes it to the middle lane before its blast of silence is administered by a silver mini van. 'Skyway' is still playing as I roll past the dog lying dead in the street. Thanks for the buzzkill, God.... Asshole.

"Elvis in the ground, there ain't no beer tonight.."

===
* - Thanks to Jim H. for the correction re: the Tutor Turtle mantra!