A Mild Uproar of Fun

Speaking of Pitchfork, the new Reigning Sound album Love and Curses was reviewed today. Despite the ho hum rating of 7.6, the review gets a 10.0 for exposing a wider audience to most endearing monster of ceremonies from the Mid-South, Sivad. The Pitchfork review not only references Sivad, but reviewer and fellow Tennesseean Stephen M. Deusner uses the Sivad character as a catalyst for the influences of the Reigning Sound sound. Apparently, “love and curses” was Sivad’s motto, and Reigning Sound’s frontman Greg Cartwright honors the phrase with the naming of the new album. While I wasn’t alive when Sivad was on air (thus not recalling the uttering of “love and curses”), I certainly remember that Fantastic Features opening which WHBQ-TV took out from the vaults every Halloween. In recent years, thanks to Judy at WEVL, I’ve become more and more familiar with the cult status of Sivad (including his short music career). Below, the one and only Sivad:

A week ago, Pitchfork Media started adding videos from this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, including one of the artists I was surprised to have enjoyed as much as I did, Blitzen Trapper. Above, Blitzen Trapper performs “Wild Mountain Nation,” a song that reminds me of the classic rock I used to listen to when I was younger, which is why I think I’m so fond of it.

Recently, I have been on a bit of a classic rock kick, which clearly started a few weeks ago when I found one of my old VHS tapes of The Black Crowes playing MTV Spring Break Daytona Beach (bootleg copy here) from 1993. While I haven’t owned a Crowes album since The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, watching the 16 year old (!) video got me into such a reminiscing spirit, that I was nearly compelled to download their latest, Warpaint.

Perhaps, I’ll check out a copy from the library. Right after I return The Rolling Stones’ Flowers, Lovin Spoonful’s Greatest Hits, Grateful Dead’s Europe `72, and Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica.