Greg
5+ years employment
vinyl person

Q:  What is the first music you remember hearing, before you had a choice?

G: I remember hearing Bob Seger "Against the Wind" and I remember my sister playing U2 and Tiffany and X2.

Q:  What was the first band you heard that really got you into music?

G:  I think the Beastie Boys and George Michael. and Run DMC.

Q:  What's your favorite music to skateboard to?

G: It's pretty difficult to skateboard to music unless you have an ipod.  When I was young I had a boom box and I would play my mom's Fleetwood Mac tape and the Best of Country Gold tape or something like that.

Q:  What is your favorite record right now, this instant?

G:  Today? Um I like The Way I Am by Merle Haggard, a 1980s record.  Very smooth.

Q:  What's the best reissue you've heard this year?

G: Well the John Phillips Wolfking of LA. [ed note: John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas recorded a solo record in 1970.  It's fantastic and in our Oldies section.]

Q: What is your favorite Bob Dylan record?

G:  Can it be a tie?  Ok, maybe a four way tie.  How about Desire, Time Out of Mind, New Morning and Self Portrait.

Looks like Amoeba favorites The Raconteurs are getting closer to releasing another album!  Jack White tells Billboard that they have been in the studio in Nashville working on 12 songs.  Sounds like the album will be out in 2008.

But the real question is:  can we expect another Amoeba Instore with the fellas?
Here's hoping!









Oops, I lost myself there for a minute, forgive me. 

Everyone remember June 8, 2006 when The Raconteurs played not one but TWO Amoeba instores in one day, one in LA and one in San Francisco?  That was a great day.


In other Jack White news, The White Stripes' new album Icky Thump comes out June 19 with a tour to follow-- so much excitement!!  It's gonna be super interesting to see what they come up with this time, as always.  and the tour, the tour......can't wait!

Joy Behar's coming to town! 

i am an avid View watcher, and Joy is my favorite personality on the show.  She'll be performing her comedy routine at the Nob Hill Masonic Center on June 16th. 

i am sure some of you out there are as crazy for The View as i am....i find myself fascinated every morning by the ladies and their Hot Topics.  Joy is my favorite because (esp before Rosie O'Donnell) she is the one who is the most blunt, the most truthful.  if she came to my family home for christmas, she would fit right in with my relatives, hilarious and cutting as she is. 


what is it about The View that is so addicting?  i have asked myself this question for many years now....for me i guess it's about what's going on below the surface on the show as much as it is what the women are gabbing about.  it seems like there is always tension behind the scenes and it's tantalizingly close to the surface at times.  i like to watch and see if it will peek out at the viewers and at what moment.  it's also refreshing to see women actually hashing out what is going on in the news, instead of watching the news and being blandly told so called facts. 

i love to see Barbara Walters, in her 70s, trying to rein in all these outspoken and energetic women on her show-- it seems like they wrestle out of her control every single morning.  i doubt when barbara started the show 10 years ago she had any idea what she was getting herself into, creating a show including women of all different backgrounds and beliefs.  the way one conducts oneself on television has certainly changed since she first started on tv!  and yet, god bless her, she tries to keep up with them all. 

Michael Hurley played at the Cafe du Nord Wednesday night, so i busted on over there after my weekly Bravo reality tv date, and i made it just in time for his full set. 

Hurley is one of the last standing of the 60s folkies, and he's still playing out often.  i think in about the last 3 years i have seen him play maybe 5ish times?  oh, and though he is in his 60s he's still expertly writing ghostly, beautiful songs.   some of my favorites of his entire career have been on records from the last  15 years.  he's been recording since 1965!  despite the fact that most people associate folk music with serious, political topics, Hurley has always had his sense of humor intact and out front in his songs.

he's come back into fashion in these last 10ish years mainly because lately other artists have been giving him the shout-outs he's always deserved and have been covering his songs.  two of the more notable artists to champion Hurley lately have been Chan Marshall of Cat Power and Devendra Banhart.  (weirdly, Chan Marshall's Covers Album is practically a song for song version of Hurley's Armchair Boogie.)  a few years back i saw Devendra with Vetiver, Chris from Espers, Carrituck County members and Joanna Newsom covering one of my absolute favorite Hurley songs, "Be Kind to Me" at the Swedish American Hall, and they tore it up, made it the raucous and ramshackle-y number it's meant to be.

anyway, Hurley's a quiet, modest guy, but he is quite the renaissance man-- in addition to all his writing and touring, he creates the artwork for pretty much all his cds. 

helloooooooo everyone, i just read online that Miss Joanna Newsom will be opening for Miss Bjork on her upcoming tour for two whole dates:

05-15 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
05-19 Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre

now doesn't that seem like a fantastic match? 

i am so excited to hear Joanna's new ep that is coming out next tuesday on Drag City.  it's gonna be called Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band and will have one new song, "Colleen", recorded just after her tour ended in december at The Plant in Sausalito.  The Plant is a fabled recording studio where Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was laid down, along with sessions by just about anyone who's anyone, including Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Michael Bolton, etc etc.  all the greats.  anyway, i am waiting with most eager anticipation for this latest release, and will give a full report as soon as i hear it.  oh yeah it's also gonna have some live tracks from the Ys tour and including her crackerjack band of Miss Katie Hardin, Mr Neal Morgan, Mr Kevin Barker, Mr Ryan Francesconi, and Mr Dan Cantrell.   seeing the Ys songs performed live was one of the most moving experiences i have ever had at a show-- this band cooks!  and so do the songs.  hopefully everyone's heard joanna's Ys by now; if not, you are coo coo-- go check it out immediately!  Bjork's new album Volta comes out may 7.  all of this gives me so much to look forward to!