The 5 Most Awesomely Talented Supergroups

Now as much as I try to stay on top of the music scene, I admittedly hadn’t heard anything about Monsters of Folk, the supergroup straight out of my dreams. The band features Jim Jones (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) and M. Ward (from solo projects and She & Him). Everyone in the group totally brings it. The album is awesome, and each member contributes to every song without anyone stealing the spotlight. Here’s a video to prove it:

After listening to their album, I got to thinking: what are the 5 supergroups with the greatest collections of talent? For this post, I’m considering a “supergroup” to be a band where band members from at least 3 bands have come together to form a new band. This of course excludes bands like Audioslave and others where only one member was actually replaced. I do take liberties with one choice, however, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. So without further ado, I present THE FIVE MOST AWESOMELY TALENTED SUPERGROUPS:

5. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

For those of you that don’t know who this band is, think about any punk-sounding cover of a famous song you’ve heard before. Odds are it was done by these guys. They’ve released seven albums, each with a different theme, and some of their covers namely “Over the Rainbow” and “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” have gone on to be used in commercials and TV promos. This band takes me back to the good old awkward days of middle school. Included in the group are Fat Mike from NOFX (easily my favorite band in middle school), Spike Slawson from the Swingin’ Utters, Joey Cape and Dave Raun from Lagwagon, and Chris Shiflett from No Use for a Name (and more notably, Foo Fighters). It’s like a punk all-star team and all they do are covers. Not a bad gig at all.

4. Wu-Tang Clan

Here’s the “supergroup” where I take some liberties. When Wu-Tang was first forming back in 1993, most of the members will still struggling to secure solo recording contracts. After Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) came out and started getting good reviews, nearly everyone in the group locked down recording deals. Out of nowhere the careers of Method Man, ODB, RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were born. Even after these guys got deals and made it big, the group continued to come together and make records and ended up releasing Wu-Tang Forever in 1997, which for my money is one of the best rap albums of all time. A few other albums followed, but never reached the commercial success of Forever. Either way, almost every member of the group has recorded or produced a hit solo album, and some of the members have established themselves as decent actors. Everyone knows Method Man was in How High, and in case you don’t know, RZA was the guy that worked with Seth Rogen behind the deli in Funny People.

3. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

After stretching the title of supergroup with the Wu-Tang Clan, we pull a 180 and come to one of the original supergroups, CSNY. Now although Neil Young didn’t join the band until 1969, I include him here because this was the lineup when the group played at Woodstock. It’s really not a big stretch to include these guys on this list, because from the time they assembled there was huge interest in the band and their initial records were huge successes. While the band was successful, the atmosphere surrounding the members was always very strained, and by the early 1970s most of the members were focused on producing solo records rather than collective efforts. While these guys were totally awesome, they're also totally boring.

2. A Perfect Circle

Since the name of this post is the 5 Most Awesomely Talented Supergroups, the strength of A Perfect Circle as a group of musicians can’t be overlooked. The group formed after Billy Howerdel (who was working as a guitar tech for Tool) approached Maynard James Keenan (lead singer of Tool) and played a few demo tracks he’d been working on. Keenan took a liking to the sound of the tracks, and decided to form a group to see where the music would take them. The original lineup of the band included Howerdel, Keenan, Paz Lenchantin (who later joined Zwan), Troy Van Leeuwen (who later joined Queens of the Stone Age) and Josh Freese (of the Vandals, now with Weezer). Several other prominent musicians have recorded albums with A Perfect Circle, including James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson). The band was an awesome collection of talent, and the producing skills of vision of both Howerdel and Keenan contributed to a great deal of critical acclaim for the band.

1. Traveling Wilburys

While sometimes considered too “gimmicky” to really be considered a serious band while they were recording, there’s no doubt that the Traveling Wilburys were far and away the most talented supergroup to ever record an album. Let’s start from the top. Bob Dylan. George Harrison. Tom Petty. Roy Orbison. Jeff Lynne (from ELO). So, you’ve got a Beatle and some of the most famous songwriters of all time working together on an album. I can’t even imagine what the recording sessions were like. According to most accounts, Orbison, Harrison and Lynne were eating dinner over at Bob Dylan’s house, Harrison forgot his guitar over at Tom Petty’s house, and then they decided to form a band. Piece o’ cake. A few of the band’s songs were pretty big hits, including “The End of the Line” and “Handle with Care”. Unfortunately the band didn’t last too long with the original lineup, as Roy Orbison died shortly after their first album was released. Nevertheless, they certainly go down in history as the greatest group of musicians ever assembled.

Who are your picks for greatest supergroup of all time?

My Second Favorite Quarterback

If you’re a guy or a fan of football at all (or have a TV for that matter) then you’ve undoubtedly heard something about the Michael Vick saga over the past few weeks. Now having lived a significant portion of my life in Atlanta and seeing most of the Michael Vick era take shape, I’m willing to forgive the guy for all his transgressions. I’ve always believed that he simply surrounded himself with unsavory people that he thought were friends, allowed his persona to get the best of him and as a result made a bunch of completely stupid and inhumane decisions. However, the dude did hard time in jail and had plenty of time to get his life together and remind himself of how lucky he is to be playing professional football. With that being said, he’s also had the benefit of a few quality people sticking by him and helping him get his NFL life back on track. Tony Dungy has probably had the biggest impact in getting Vick back to the league, but Donovan McNabb’s impact on Vick’s career started way back when he was in high school and will be the single biggest factor in how successfully Vick revitalizes his career.

While attending Mt. Carmel High School in the great city of Chicago, Donovan was a complete and total stud. As a sophomore in 1991 he helped his football team win a state championship, and his senior year he led his team to a Chicago Prep Bowl championship. The guy also ran track, and played hoops on the same team as Antoine “Twan” Walker. Clearly the dude had talent, and by the time signing time came around two schools were beating down the door to pick him up, Nebraska and Syracuse. Now Nebraska in the early 90’s was a pretty tough school to turn down, but they also had the stigma of producing option quarterbacks who didn’t really ever pan out to do much professionally. McNabb decides that rather than roll the dice at Nebraska, he was going to attend Syracuse to establish himself as a serious pocket-passing quarterback.

a more nimble version of McNabb

McNabb goes on to start every game of his college career, set a bunch of Syracuse and Big East records, gets named Big East Offensive Player of the Year three times in a row, and oh by the way also plays on the Orangemen’s basketball team (who went to the 1996 NCAA finals against Kentucky). Now that’s all well and good, but this is where his story first mixes with Michael Vick. When Vick was making the rounds on his college recruiting trips, he visited Syracuse and was sponsored by McNabb. So you’re looking at a young Michael Vick coming out of high school as one of the most freakish athletes hanging out with an NFL-bound Donovan McNabb. Who knows what those guys talked about, but clearly a bond started to form that would come back to hugely benefit Vick.

Now of course Vick eventually winds up signing with Virginia Tech and McNabb gets drafted second overall by the Eagles, right behind Tim Couch. At the time of the draft Philly fans were a little bit upset at the Eagles selection of McNabb, since the consensus was that Ricky Williams was the best player available at #2. Other players of note in this draft class were hotshots like Akili Smith and Cade McNown, so in hindsight McNabb was the absolute best pick the Eagles could have made.

Flash forward to the 2000 season with McNabb leading the Eagles for the first time as a starter. The season ended with the Eagles at 10-6, good enough to take them to the playoffs for the first time since 1996. The Eagles also won their first playoff game since 1995, beating Tampa Bay in the Wild Card game. After the season it was clear that McNabb was the leader of the team, and poised to lead the Eagles back to the playoffs in 2002.

2002 was the first time Donovan’s toughness really became apparent to football fans outside of Philadelphia. Late in the season, McNabb was tackled low by two Arizona Cardinals on the third play of the game and broke his ankle in three places. Not knowing his ankle was indeed broken, McNabb gets the freaking thing taped in the locker room and comes back onto the field 10 minutes later. He completely blows for the rest of the game, and finishes 20 of 25 for 225 yards and 4 touchdowns. When you watch the highlights of the game, you can see Donovan go down and grab his leg like he knows something is seriously wrong, but to come back in the game and finish with those numbers was a huge testament to his character and toughness. 2002 wasn’t without controversy however, as this was the year that Rush Limbaugh, inexplicably working for ESPN as a commentator at the time, made the comment that McNabb was “overrated” and that he was only getting attention because the media “wanted a black quarterback to succeed”. All politics aside, Rush Limbaugh is a complete idiot and I hope he falls of the face of the earth never to be seen again. He resigns from ESPN shortly after the comment goes public.

In 2004, the Eagles acquired Terrell Owens and Jevon Kearse in the offseason. Now that the team finally had a top-tier receiver and a complete beast on the defensive line, things started to come together. They finished with one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise, going 13-3 and making it to the NFC Championship. This was the first season that Donovan McNabb faced Michael Vick in a pivotal playoff game. Nobody could stop Philly this season though, and their defense not only kept Vick in check but also stopped the extremely versatile Atlanta running game. They shut out the Falcons in the second half, and earned a spot in Super Bowl XXXIX where they faced arguably the greatest team of all time, the 2004 New England Patriots. I’ll never forget this game, and most people can remember the last few drives by the Eagles as they struggled to fight back late in the 4^th quarter, finishing just a little short at the end. There was a lot of discussion about McNabb’s condition during the last quarter of the Super Bowl, and there was a lot of speculation that he was sick and throwing up in the huddle during the final drive. McNabb denied these rumors though, stating that he was just tired after a hard-fought game and ran out of juice at the end.

Number 2, meet Number 1

Over the next few years injuries plagued McNabb, and Philadelphia fans argued back and forth about whether or not their quarterback had passed his prime and if the Eagles should look to other players to fill his spot. He tore his ACL in 2006, and after Jeff Garcia took over and led the team to the playoffs, criticism of McNabb hit ridiculous levels. 2007 was a completely lackluster year for the Eagles, and in interviews Donovan stated publicly that he didn’t expect to return to the Eagles for the 2008 season.

Once the 2008 season began however, things seemed to fall back into place for McNabb. He put up great numbers to start the season, and seemed to forget about any of the past criticism that he faced in previous years. In other words, he acted like a boss. He was throwing passes like a younger version of Donovan McNabb, and while he had lost some mobility, he was now much more comfortable being a pocket-passer, just like he wanted to be when he played at Syracuse. He led the team to the playoffs for the seventh time in his nine years as a starter, and in other words, Donovan was BACK. He lead the team all the way to the NFC Championship, and almost made it an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl.

Donovan's BACK

To come under fire like McNabb has over the past few years and still find a way to persevere is the single biggest reason why Donovan can now officially be called my Second Favorite Quarterback. Certainly the Cambell’s Soup commercials helped his cause, but to keep fighting and fighting and fighting even though an entire city seems to be giving you the beatdown is incredibly impressive. He’s also a family man, was named to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, and both of his parents are heavily involved with the NFL Mothers and Fathers Associations. For all the ridiculous behavior we see out of professional athletes, Donovan’s name has never been in the news, and he can without question be called a “character guy”. Now he faces what could be his biggest leadership challenge ever, mentoring and guiding the comeback of Michael Vick.

this is going to be awesome

I’m a second-chance guy, and I’m glad Vick is getting a second chance at his career. I’m even more intrigued by his signing because after the success of the 2008 season, there’s a strong chance that the Eagles could make it to the Super Bowl this season. They’ve got Desean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, and a young Jeremy Maclin as receiving targets to go along with Brian Westbrook out of the backfield. Pretty solid offensive weapons. Now it’s a little unclear how exactly Vick will be used in the offense, but if they decide to use him as both a running AND passing threat out of the backfield, the Eagles might have the most inventive and interesting offensive scheme anyone has ever seen. Of course Vick might not be able to play until week 6, but COME ON. It’ll be awesome to see when it happens.

The truth is, Donovan McNabb is going to be the best thing that ever happened to Michael Vick. In Atlanta he had the misfortune of playing under a coach that didn’t really understand how to maximize his talent and an owner that tried to be a little too involved but never really seemed to be able to connect with the players. Now he’s got a veteran pocket-passing quarterback and a coach that has had his fair share of personal drama off the field ready to help him manage his new, somewhat vilified persona. I wish Vick the best of luck, and I’ll certainly be rooting for him as soon as he makes it back to the field.

A (not-so) Brief History of Lollapalooza

For music lovers across the country, the summer is a special time of year. The sun is shining, day drinking becomes much more acceptable, and perhaps most importantly, summer music festivals begin. There are the huge ones (Coachella, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, All Points West, etc) as well as some smaller festivals (Pitchfork, Rothbury, etc) and too many street festivals and block parties to even mention. But for the kind citizens of Chicago, one festival reigns supreme: Lollapalooza.

(can't beat that view)

Today I'm going to give the hyper-intelligent and knowledge-thirsty readers of this blog a little history lesson on Lollapalooza. From its not-so-humble nationwide tour beginnings to its current three-day Chicago takeover form, I'll trace the history of this musical adventure.

It all started way back in 1991, a year when most of us were still completely obsessed with Nickelodeon. As a matter of fact, Nickelodeon had a banner year in 1991, as Doug, Rugrats AND Ren & Stimpy all premiered. On the movie side of things, Terminator 2, My Girl, and The Silence of the Lambs also all came out that year. Anyway enough historical perspective, back to the story at hand.

So in 1991, Perry Farrell (of Jane's Addiction if you're a complete musical buffoon) decides that there's so much good music around, he should create a traveling festival to showcase regional bands to areas of the country that might not be familiar with them (the festival was also supposed to be a farewell tour for his band). This is a little bit before grunge really took over the music scene, so the headliners for the inaugural tour were Jane's Addiction, NIN, Henry Rollins Band (unclear if his set included slam poetry....BONGGGG), Ice-T, and the Butthole Surfers. The tour only had one stage, and was designed to be a "cultural festival" as much as it was a music festival.

It should be noted at this point that the word "lollapalooza" means: "an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance". As Perry Farrell's vision of a massive cultural experience began to grow, the festival started to personify that definition more and more.

After putting round one of the festival in the book, Farrell came back in 1992 facing a rapidly changing musical landscape. Grunge was blowing up, and the festival had to ensure that the style du jour would be represented strongly in the year's tour. The 1992 lineup of course reflected this change, as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden (as well as Temple of the Dog) headlined the tour. Sticking to the 1991 formula, Ice Cube, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Ministry were also added to round out the bill.

1993 was a little bit of a confused year for Lollapalooza. Grunge still carried some weight, and Alice in Chains were billed as the headliner. While people were still getting down with their dirty flannels, a shift was beginning to appear at the festival. Alt-Rock (in all its forms) were making some noise, and as a result bands like Primus and Rage Against the Machine were added to the tour. Tool also made an appearance this year, as did Dinosaur Jr. The tour finished relatively quietly, which would soon appear to be the calm before the storm. SPOILER ALERT: 1994 gets crazy.

Think about 1994. Does anything come to mind? Lorena Bobbitt maybe? How about O.J.? Don't forget about Tonya Harding. Lots of things going on in 1994, including the height of popularity for a little band from Seattle, Nirvana. Of course Perry Farrell HAD to have the band headline Lollapalooza this year, and things seemed like they were really going to come together for the festival. This was set to be the breakout year. The Smashing Pumpkins came on board this year, as did Green Day and the Beastie Boys. Then tragedy hit. Farrell gets a call on April 7th telling him that Nirvana was pulling out of the festival. Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home the very next day. This set a very somber mood for the tour, and Courtney Love spoke to the crowd at every show to remind everyone of Kurt's legacy. Sad times indeed.

From 1995 through 1996, the festival lost a little bit of it's luster. Huge bands still made the tour, including Beck, Metallica, Rancid, Wu-Tang Clan, and The Ramones. Unfortunately, many people felt the festival had lost its touch with the less-than-mainstream audience, and things started to fall apart. In 1996, Perry Farrell decided it was time for him to move on, and dropped out of the festival completely.

1997 marked the last year for Lollapalooza as a real traveling tour. The tour that year had a bit of a weird feel to it, headlined by bands like The Prodigy and Korn. Devo made an appearance on the tour this year, and if I had been half as cool as I am now I totally would have gone just to see them. Alas, I was just an awkward 7th grader with poor musical taste.

Nobody heard a peep about Lollapalooza again until 2003. Perry Farrell decided it was time to get Jane's Addiction back together, and made a strong attempt to revive the festival. Despite his best efforts to get things rolling again, the tour was a total disaster. Nobody showed up, and many people blame high ticket prices as the biggest killer of the tour. 2004 was an even bigger disaster, as the tour was cancelled halfway through due to weak ticket sales. The Killers, Wilco, The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse were all on board for the tour, but couldn't salvage this train wreck.

Finally in 2005, Farrell teamed up with Capital Sports & Entertainment (who produce Austin City Limits) to totally rebrand the festival. Rather than travel around the country bringing music to everyone they could, the organizers decided to host the festival in beautiful Grant Park in the lovely city of Chicago. If you can't get people to come out and see you in their city, why not make the event a destination? This model proved to be super successful, and leaves us with the Lollapalooza we know and love today.

So, while you're out at Lollapalooza this year, remember the roots of the festival. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get it to the point where it is today, and hopefully the festival will continue for a great many years. Also, if you don't go see Arctic Monkeys, Tool, Animal Collective, Cold War Kids and TV on the Radio, consider our friendship over.

(special thanks to the one and only Jeff Johnson for the inspiration for this post)

Your Neighbor Might Own One of These

(special thanks to Trevor for passing along this nugget)

Everyone knows Raytheon, right? Basically, they're an absolute behemoth of a company and their focus is defense technology. They're the world's largest producer of guided missiles, and they also make a crap-load of super high-end electronics... electronics that go into surveillance equipment, radar, satellite communications, you name it.

(one of Raytheon's biggest hits, the Patriot Missile)

So anyway, for the past few years Raytheon has been totally pumped up about lasers. They want to make all kinds of crazy lasers for all kinds of crazy purposes. Well as an offshoot of all this laser R&D came along a little program called Directed Energy Solutions. Now judging by the name alone, you might be able to figure out where they're going with this thing. Raytheon has produced a device called the Silent Guardian which "employs millimeter wave technology to repel individuals or crowds without causing injury". This sounds all well and good, right? Maybe its a sound wave thing, giving rowdy crowds really bad headaches or something. Or maybe it's a little device that produces a "Brown Sound" (no explanation necessary). Wellllll, it doesn't do those things, but rather something a little bit more painful.

See, the Silent Guardian "emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation" which can then "throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile". Basically, it feels like you're on fire. I've never actually been on fire, but I did touch a hot stove once when I was a wee lad and my god it hurts. And it hurts for a long time. So the practical application of the weapon is for military units to mount the thing onto vehicles, and pretty much make anyone that comes near it run away screaming like a little schoolgirl. This sounds kinda sweet right? (cue U-S-A!!, U-S-A!! chants).

When used militarily, it certainly could be sweet. Imagine an embassy in some faraway land is getting attacked by a bunch of hooligans. Cue up the Silent Guardian, and instantly the fools that were dumb enough to try to get close to the building suddenly get the fire treatment and your problem is solved. Or maybe you're transporting some really important person around and you don't want anyone trying anything funny. Turn on the Silent Guardian, and the car or truck basically has its own forcefield. Great.

Now here's the rub. During a presentation at a recent NATO workshop, Raytheon announced that there was an "Impending Direct Commercial Sale" of the device. Let me clarify that last statement. This was not a "Top-Secret Military Sale" or even an "Kinda-Secret Military Sale", but a COMMERCIAL SALE. So, your neighbor that owns the H2 and the 45-foot yacht and also has like $1B in the bank might just be the guy that bought the Silent Guardian. Maybe he'll strap it to the back of said H2 and just roll down Main Street pumping radiation into the good people of your community. Who knows. Point being, this is a little bit weird to say the least.

If you're curious, here's a picture of what the actual thing looks like. A little cumbersome to say the least, but still. WTF?!

-credit to Engadget for pics and background for this story

Fun Little Free Mixtape

Came across this little FREE mixtape during one of my countless hours creeping the internets. As far as free mixtapes go, this one is pretty solid.

Buckchild - The Fun Rap Mixtape

Maybe the Most Interesting Band of the 00's

I want to take the time to rant a bit about one of my favorite bands of all time: Arctic Monkeys.

First off, a quick background on these guys. In 2001, two punkass high school kids from Sheffield ask their parents for instruments for Christmas. They both get guitars, and decide to start playing them. They play shows like any other high school band would, but decide to give away all their recordings for free. This of course helps the band build an extremely loyal fanbase, and as the internet boom started to get cracking, their recordings began to appear online and the band started getting noticed.

Fast forward to 2006. The band releases Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not and things get wild. The record sold 363,735 copies in its first week, which made it the fastest selling UK album of all time.

Now we come to 2007. The band releases Favourite Worst Nightmare, produced by James Ford. The album marks a slight change in direction for the band, highlighted with a faster, darker, and a little deeper sound. Sales of the album were less than WPSIAMTWIN, but the album gained significant notoriety, as every track on the album entered the UK Top 200 charts. The album also won Best Album in the 2008 BRIT Awards.

Now here we are in 2009. The band is about to release Humbug, produced by both James Ford and Josh Homme of the Queens of The Stone Age. As far as I can tell, the album picks up where FWN left off, and continues the darker, deeper sound the band has been toying with. Check out the first video off the album:

HELLO CLEVELAND!

So here we go. Moved to Cleveland today, and now I'm sitting in my girlfriends apartment while she's out changing the world one dental procedure at a time in Guatemala. I'm still working on an actual theme for this blog, but for now, lets just say that I'll be writing about things I think are cool. This will also be where I debut my soon-to-be world famous, instant meme internet video. Those that know what I'm talking about, don't ruin the surprise for everyone.