Do you realize?! Wayne Coyne tweeted this photo today of posters created for what promise to be two of the most rousing shows of the summer -- The Flaming Lips playing first The Soft Bulletin and then Dark Side of the Moon at Hollywood Forever Cemetary! Tickets here.

Crazy busy as Record Store Day (RSD) at Amoeba Music was on Saturday -- there are still some RSD 2011 releases available for sale. But likely these remaining RSD 2011 releases will be snapped up pretty darn quickly since they are all limited edition pressings, so head over to your local Amoeba Music to get them while you can! Note these are not sold on the website; they are only in the stores.

At Amoeba Hollywood, where Amoebite Rik figured there was about "30% of the Record Store Day stock" left over as of yesterday/Sunday mid afternoon, these numerous RSD 2011 titles include such goodies as the 10" vinyl collectibles from both Adele ("Rolling In The Deep") and Bruce Springsteen ("Gotta Get The Feeling"  / "Racing In The Street"), the Robbie Robertson LP How To Be Clairvoyant, and the Panda Bear Tomboy vinyl LP / /T‐Shirt bundle in blue in both medium and large. Other RSD 2011 goodies still available at the Hollywood Amoeba, where you will find the RSD releases all together in the one area right after you walk in the front door, include the Flaming Lips LP box set Heady Nuggs: The First 5 WB Records 1992 - 2002, and CDs by Jimi Hendrix ("Fire"/"Touch You") and The Decemberists (Live at Bull Moose). 12" vinyl RSD 2011 titles still available include Ray Lamontagne ("Live Fall 2010"), Lady GaGa ("Born This Way"), and Beth Ditto ("I Wrote the Book").
 
Note that due to the limited run on all of the RSD titles that each store has only certain titles left over. The Berkeley and San Francisco Amoebas, which don't have all the exact same titles I've listed available at Amoeba Hollywood, still do have a great many RSD 2011 titles, including the Flaming Lips LP box set and the Hendrix CD.

I am a photographer, but these aren't necessarily my best photos ever. They are, however, photos from most of my favorite shows of 2010, in chronological order:

1/2/10 An Evening with the Melvins at the Great American Music Hall

I don't like to be late to shows, but I think I had to work this night, so I walked into the Great American Music Hall during the second song of the set. The show began with just Buzzo and Dale on stage. I brought my one of my brothers to the show, and it was his first time seeing the Melvins. We grew up listening to a lot of Beatles and both LOVE them, so when the band played "Let Me Roll It" by Paul McCartney, I kinda lost my shit. It was an amazing beginning to a rad show. Love those Melvins!

 

2/11/10 Brendan Benson supported by Frank Fairfield at the Independent

I love Brendan Benson and saw him twice this year but this show was extra awesome because I got to see Frank Fairfield. He plays old timey country/bluegrass music and he blew me away. I also grew up listening to Bob Wills, the Carter Family, Johnny Cash, among others. I was pleased when Frank played at Amoeba Music later this year to support Terry Zwigoff's DVD signing.  

This month we are celebrating 20 years of Amoeba! It's our anniversary! And one of the ways we wanted to celebrate was by highlighting here for you some of our best, most memorable instores of all time! We have been so lucky over the years -- we've hosted shows, signings and events with Paul McCartney, Queens of the Stone Age, The Shins, Flight of the Conchords, John Waters, The Gossip and zillions more. You can find video footage and interviews from many of our instores right here! Read on to find out what three of our most seasoned instore reviewers thought were some of our very greatest.

But first, get further immersed in our 20th Anniversary! To check out our first Anniversary blog post, with testimonials from some of our favorite customers, click here! Our second Anniversary post is an interview with co-owner Marc Weinstein about getting the Berkeley store off the ground all the way back in 1990 and what Amoeba means to him. Read it right here. Our third Anniversary post includes Top 10 lists from some of our old skool employees -- click here to check out their favorites in music and movies from the past 20 years!

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In recently trying to fill in a friend on what I'd spent the last year or two listening to, I realized that my personal taste tends to gravitate towards some element of either Folk form (any hint of hill-folk finger-pickin' or Ozark/Appalachian melancholy and I'm in), Psychedelia or the tendency to extend a theme for a good long jam (a category in which I include a lot of the Jazz that I like), or just a great, funky groove.

With those qualifiers in place, the following is a year by year review of the last decade which somehow got past me with out noticing it. I mean, really?!! 2010?!!!  I didn't see it coming: 

2000: Album of the Year

Air's enjoyable and wacky Moon Safari had been on the decks for a couple years before they contracted for the soundtrack to Sofia Coppolla's Virgin Suicides. The resultant score is absolutely sublime and marked the French electronauts as contenders to watch.

For myself, it was the defining sound of the millennium's new year.
















Shelby Lynne released a killer country-soul gem, I Am Shelby Lynne, that echoed early material from the likes of Bonnie Raitt. Thinking that it was a brilliant debut from a talented 32yo unknown, I was eventually shocked to find that it was her 6th album. I listened to it for months.