Read the headline. I said it. Mark it.

I’ve taken plenty of cabs in cites across North America. Too many checkered yellow fares to count in metropolises like NYC and Toronto along with ones from places like Quebec City and Cleveland; Austin and Los Angeles.

The only time I’ve EVER felt rooked, taken, possibly afraid for my life and certainly skeevy were on the rare cab rides I had to take in my own hometown. In Buffalo. My city. The City of Good Neighbors maybe, but avoid calling a taxi if you can.

There were times when I was ripped off, taken out of the way and when I had to argue with driver. Oddly, it’s never happened anywhere else.

Taxis are not a common place thing in the Queen City. It’s a commuting town, easy enough to get around and to park. Most of us drive.

I honestly think that these things have taken the accountability away from WNY cab drivers. I’ve worked at hotels and been at enough bars and venues where concerts happen to see some foul things go down with cabs in this city.

I’m sure there’s plenty of good cab drivers in Buffalo, I’ve just never had one.

When I heard the homegrown Chicago Blackhawks star and NHL rookie of the year Pat Kane was arrested after an altercation with a cab driver, I immediately thought: The cab driver probably tried to rip him off.

Pat Kane might not be an absolute angel in this situation, but I’ll bet an NHL season’s worth of beers that he was cheated, provoked and/or somehow wronged in this instance which drove him to react.

Again: I said it here and you can mark it down.

Also… Hey: Mike Grier!!! GREAT SIGNING, SABRES!

The band’s “Raging Red” (from their masterful 2004 full-length All I Ever Wanted Was Tonight) is featured in a new commercial for Cadillac’s Escalade that we are bound to be bombarded with for the next six months.

More on the new album at www.dear-leader.com and the slick Escalade commercial featuring “Raging Red” and the hot chick from some ABC show(s) I’ve never watched:

@donnykutzbach on Twitter

How did we ever live without Twitter?

Just fine, actually.

I mean, do we really need to know that our cousin is “making a peanut butter sandwich” and then three minutes later get an update that it has been eaten and was “good”?

Of course not.

So Twitter (and all the social network experiences that have taken root) can be really annoying but can be every bit as addictive.

Even with the endless amount time wasters at the fingertips via iPhone, I’ve found using Twitter to be one of the most consistently fun, quick, often ridiculous, sometimes informative and usually satisfying way to kill a spare moment.

If you wanna get the same kind of music, pop culture, Buffalo-related nonsense and such that passes for this blog, follow me on Twitter:

@donnykutzbach

I promise I will never tweet about making a sandwich or something “cute” that my dog did.

Hearing a great record, finding a good bar or seeing someone from Channel 2 News at Starbucks – on the other hand – area all fair game…

This will be my sixth year attending SXSW – the massive music festivals in Austin, TX where thousands of performers play and the global music industry converge for one week – and the half decade thus far has proven an interesting gauge of changing winds of technology, how we communicate and how  media delivery is changing.

With each passing year, it was at SXSW where I really noticed how getting – in myself and those around me – how getting and sharing information was rapidly changing.

In 2004, I remember lugging my heavy old laptop PC and having a tough time getting the internet in my hotel room and checking my email twice a day.  Now I can’t fathom not checking my iPhone every ten minutes for updated information.

The Fratellis with Pete Townshend in 2007 (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

In 2007, my Who-obsesed eye spied Pete Townshend’s amp, guitar rig and trusted guitar tech Alan Rogan on the side of the stage during a day time set by  The Fratelli’s set. I quickly started sending text messages to friends and cohorts to get there post haste. When they all started pouring in and with time catch the legendary guitarist roll through a version of “The Seeker” with the young Scottish band, I saw the ease, directness and power of text messaging.

SXSW revelry circa 2008: Rachel Ray (L), Donny Kutzbach (R) / photo - David L. Dewey

In 2004, I had to get a new suitcase for all the compact discs I acquired. In 2009, I will fit as much as I can on my hard drive… and maybe still need a  suitcase for all the vinyl!

Also in 2009, my reporting will change but still stay somewhat the same.

In addition to the final SXSW recap in the March 26-April 1 issue of ARTVOICE, I will be doing live blogging and Twitter “tweeting” throughout the maddening  blur of the sun-baked, alcohol-soaked and music omnipresent week in Texas.

No matter how the flow of info changes and how much wired – or wireless – we become, the other thing SXSW also proves: there’s nothing that can kill live music and it’s ultimately one of the most powerful forces on the planet.

Feel free to join me for the ride either here at Record Needle In The Camel’s iPod or at Twitter

Beatles toys are back in 2009!

It’s not a surprise as it’s been bantered about in video game and music circles for the better part of year, but the official announcement came today.

Apple Corps, Harmonix and MTV Games officially announced the global release of Rock Band: The Beatles this morning.

The press release declares:

The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic
or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music
through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and
evolution of the band’s legendary career. In addition, The Beatles:
Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled
after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr throughout their career.

A teaser website is up at www.thebeatlesrockband.com and the game will be available for XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii with retail ranging from $59.99 for basic verison to $249.99 for a premium bundle.

While The Beatles: Rock Band is not the first video game platform to highlight a single band’s music (that milestone belongs to last year’s hohum Gutiar Hero edition of Boston’s once badboys, Aerosmith)  it is significant is it’s the first time Apple Corps – along with EMI Music, Harrisongs Ltd, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing – has agreed to present The Beatles music for a video game.

It’s further remarkable to see such notoriously particular copyright holders unleash an entire catalog on such a scale but it says a lot of where the music business is right now and how it is hoped that legacies will be intact

With aim not only to hook the gamers but also legions of Beatles diehards, careful attention paying attention to details including Rock Band-playable  replications of the Fabs’ original gear to a release date of September 9, 2009  (Get it??? Number nine… Number nine… Number nine…)

Here’s to hoping there will be a sitar so I can virtually master “Within You Without You” or a Yoko Ono expansion pack to hover over the procedings and annoy your opponents.

Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs - Deluxe Edition = $100+!!!

I am not writing to complain. It’s more about being confounded.

Like many other fanatical Bob Dylan obsessives, I am delighted with The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs which collects some swept under the rug gems from between 1989 and 2006 from the Bard of Minnesota. All of it further evidences the mighty reemergence of America’s greatest 20th Century music icon.

The quality of these unreleased and alternate versions in fact surpasses expectations.

Dylan’s latter-era croak is in many places here clearer than it is through the original released records from where these tracks were culled and being able to track the development of a song like “Mississippi” or hearing the great unreleased “Dignity” in two versions proves mind-blowing for serious Dylan fans and scholars.

What was it the man said?

“The times they are a-changing.”

At a time when the record industry is in a state of flux, struggling to sell physical product and trying to readjust its business model for the digital age. It’s even hard to even register a pulse on people who used to be really excited about buying music.

I’m the music writer jerk who waits to get the promo sent from the record company… and if it doesn’t come I just download it but, hell: my jaded ass was out Tuesday morning to buy this Dylan release.

Tuesdays.

Anyone remember the joy and rush of going out to buy new releases on Tuesday? There would be weeks where you’d buy nothing and others where you had five things in your hand.

Thanks to the digital age, I hardly ever do anything like that anymore but this week there I was again and I was genuinely excited.

Yes, the times are a-changing and part of the shift of the record business means a city like Buffalo can’t support any indie record stores. Barring the locally-based Record Theater – who are no question struggling but still doing a decent job – going out to buy music means malls and big stores. Not too really sexy or fun.

I can get excited about the price drop, however. I left with a Dylan double CD for $14.00. Even up until a year or so ago – before the air was almost totally out of the music biz’s retail balloon -  the cheapest Sony would let retailers sell a double disc of Dylan’s stuff was around $25.00.

So the new reality of buying physical music product – records I still call them whether it is vinyl or CD – is a good thing for the consumer, right?

Maybe not.

What happens the price drop is not across the board?

Banking on the Dylan fanatics having to have it all, Sony/Legacy issued the Tell Tale Signs – Deluxe Edition with an expanded book, 45 single and an all-important third disc of twelve tracks that properly completes and ties the collection together. The problem: its suggested retail price is $169.98.

I shall be released but I shall be very, very expensive.

Think about that price increase. The suggested retail jumps $150.00! With Sony selling the bulk of the Dylan’s back catalog at $10.00 each you could buy no less than 15 positively must-own Bob Dylan classics – like Highway 61 Revisted, Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks - for the price.

For the fans and collectors that’s of no use, though. We own them all, sometimes buying them three or four times over when you count remastered versions, vinyl and such. And there is an outcry.

The price gouging for the expanded set has set off a firestorm from commerce sites like amazon.com and even among the most ardent fans at the forum Expecting Rain where those who have always had to have everything Zimmy are crying foul.

Many think Sony has gone to far.

I have to agree. Being the kind of sucker who will spend the extra money for a special edition with extras, even I’m appalled at that kind of price jump. Yes, even I have my limit.

My answer solution? Bootleg the Bootleg.

A few minutes of searching “Tell Tale Signs 3 .rar” or hitting bit torrent sites should uncover it. Even if it’s hard to justify the extra hundred plus dollars to get Disc 3, it’s not hard to justify spending a few minutes online.

Daryl P. Brothers brings tears to a clowns - Halloween 2004

Lou Reed would classify him a rock and roll animal.

Our “Cousin” Daryl P. Brothers is a well known WNY music-o-phile/sometimes AV photo contributor/all around good guy who spends an inordanent amount of nights either out at local music shacks or traveling miles and across borders to take in live music.

Like the James Brown of concert attendence, he is the hardest working man in show-going. It’s earned him a reputation as a rock zelig.

Every show it seems, he’s THERE. Somehow he ends up in the front of the stage, too. He has a hundreds of stories from the front lines of the rock music fight.

Back at the annual SXSW 2007, while out in the crowd at Stubbs BBQ for an immolating performance by the reunited Stooges, I glanced at the Igster and there was my friend Daryl up there on stage with him!

Notice the well-traveled AP photo where Daryl is on the far right giving the patented “rock point.”

and YouTube clip where Daryl P appears about 2 minutes in:

Iggy “Stooge” Pop on stage with Daryl Brothers (in striped shirt) at SXSW 2007

Last weekend, he again left his imprint after attending the heralded New York edition of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival.

Speaking to him Sunday from the Catskills hideaway (a place Brothers declared as, “Just like something out of The Shining.”) that hosted the boutique festival, he reported a massive first two nights catching sets that  included Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On and the Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II as well asgetting taken for big bucks by Shellac mainman and noted engineer/producer Steve Albini in a high stakes poker game.

That Sunday night was the big dance, however, with sets from Mercury Rev and the mighty My Bloody Valentine.

By the next day it was clear that rock zelig Daryl P had not let us down.

As the indie blogosphere was a rush of reviews from All Tomorrow’s Parties, one of the best – Brooklyn Vegan – not only carried a full on hosanna of My Bloody Valentine’s uplifting if aurally crushing set but it had great photos of Kevin Sheilds and company. Then scanning through them, we quickly noticed a familiar face in a bootleg Van Halen shirt.

from BrooklynVegan.com - Daryl P. Brothers at left during My Bloody Valentine's set at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival

I’ve said it before and I wil say it again: Daryl P. Brothers is a sick dude!

Gram Parsons had only reached the age of 26 and his music career – though it included redirecting the flight of the Byrds, founding Flying Burrito Brothers, collaborating with the Rolling Stones and discovering a singer named Emmylou Harris – had largely been viewed as a wash: one with potential that was never fully realized.

These 35 years have proven that completely wrong. It’s hard to imagine Gram Parsons’ legacy looming any larger. Most importantly, the music not only still stands up but so many of his songs have come to be the standards for any rock band trying to play or vice versa.

As the years passed, Gram Parsons almost took on the aura of a Christ-figure of country-rock circles. Time has spun the Parsons story as if he had to come, taught everyone the way and the truth and then had to be martyred, nailed to a cross of booze and morphine. Maybe he was! If not, it sure makes a great rock and roll story.

I’ve spent years poring over Parsons’ recorded legacy and taking in the mythology but when trying to summarize it, I know I can’t quite do it justice.

Luckily, David Meyer can.

After a steady stream of Parsons bios in over the past couple decades – from worthy souls like Ben Fong-Torres, Sid Griffin and even Parson’s own daughter Polly – but Meyer’s Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music (Random House) might be the one to top them all. It’s just out in paperback and is highly recommended for diving into the legacy and lore of one of the genuine pioneers of American music.

For tonight – throw down a shot of tequila and throw on that copy of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Gilded Palace of Sin, Grievous Angel or whatever your favorite Gram record is. Hell, do yourself a favor and play them all!

In the colossal, radio-ready but road-worn rock and roll machine of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, it’s hard to separate one single great part from the sum of the whole. There was a guy they called “the Phantom” who was anything but a ghost. Springsteen would introduce him as “Mr. Now You See Him, Now You Don’t” because at times he would seemingly be hiding in the shadows but when the notes from his organ started swirling through the air, his presence was beyond entrancing. You couldn’t miss what he was doing.

When I put on 1975’s landmark Born To Run – beyond the Boss’ alleyway poetry and boardwalk-commanding vox – what I always hear that pulls me in is coming from Danny Federici. His glockenspiel punctuates the redemptive escape on “Thunder Road” and his glock and organ-combined attack is the high-octane thing fueling “Born To Run” past the finish line. He gave The River’s “Hungry Heart” its bounce and there’s his unforgettable, somber accordion part at the core of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” from The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle.

There are simply too many great Danny Federici moments to go on about. Any Springsteen fan worth his or her salt will have a unique list.

In November of last year, Federici was forced to exit Springsteen and E Street’s Magic Tour to pursue treatment for melanoma. He sadly lost the battle, passing away yesterday at the age of 58. His sound – however – will stick around forever and woosh through the ears fo generations to come with the kind of power and beauty one might get listening to the Atlantic Ocean crashing along the Jersey shoreline.

Bruce Springsteen & Danny Federici on YOU TUBE:Bruce & Danny