The Giant Panther

OK rockers. Want to know the two very best kept secrets in rock today (only in my humble opinion of course)? Is that a yes? OK, I'll tell you; Built To Spill and The Black Keys. One band is from Idaho (Built To Spill) so you understand why they might not be a household name and the other is from that rock bastion Ohio (The Black Keys). Are you aware that Cleveland Rocks? Even the legendary Ian Hunter and Drew Carey know this...get on the stick! Seriously, I can't say enough about these two bands. I just love them to death. Tonight, Built To Spill is playing The Middle East in Cambridge. The venue holds maybe 1000 if the Fire Marshall is properly greased so it's a must see if at all possible. Naturally I procrastinated to see if my baseball team was playing the night of the concerts (there are three this weekend) and now that I want to go this evening I have no ticket. I should go camp out right now because this is going to be a murderously tough scalp I fear. This band is just fantastic in concert. This would be my third or fourth time seeing Built To Spill if I get in. The Black Keys I've probably seen five times now. Both bands are highly recommended and Giant Panther approved.

My Built To Spill story is actually kind of accidental and funny. I hope I haven't told it before in past blogs, but now I have a year's worth of history to space. I wouldn't know Built To Spill from spilled milk but for a fortuitous incorrect purchase about nine years ago. I was playing softball in North Cambridge for a bucket of blood pub called Sligo's in Davis Square (Somerville, MA) and we would retire to the bar after we played every Friday night for years. Davis Square is a great little college beehive of activity; Tufts University is over in nearby Medford and Somerville in general has been slowly gentrified the past fifteen years or so. It's about eight miles from Boston at most, but it houses some great bars, BBQ, theaters and live entertainment clubs (no, not those kind...geesh). It is just flooded with beautiful coeds and youth. I just love visiting the place. Sligo's, our sponsor at the time, is a giant throwback bar. It opens at dawn for third shifters and basically gets by on the spill off from packed clubs like The Burren, The Joshua Tree and Redbones (the best BBQ in our part of the world). It is crawling with nefarious types perched on their stools right next to college kids. It's a mixed everything venue; people who start drinking to prevent their hangover from taking over the following day (you know the types; boilermakers and red eyes before noon) and college kids who could care less what time of day it is. Does the day end in "y?" Yes? One Pabst Blue Ribbon please...

How do I always get so far off track? Oh yeah, drinking after softball. Sometimes we'd have to run various errands for money and slices or ice or whatever after a given game. Parking in Davis Square is no picnic, but once that is settled sometimes we'd hit the bank for drinking money just before showing up to explain how we dropped the ball or hit the big homer. It was fun. I didn't like tying up my Fridays, but the league was competitive and we just kept playing. We only won the thing once in 1997 for our seven or eight years of trouble, but we never gave up trying. One team was always better than we were...every year. It all came down to pitching and we didn't have much. Anyway, one night while my buddy was getting cash I wandered over the to used CD store (remember those?) across the street and bought some music for fun. I must have picked up the latest CD by some artist (they sold new stuff too) and headed straight for the register because I know I wasn't in there long. Unbelievably, there was a line of four or five people trying to get out of there so I had time to check out the equivalent of your garden variety grocery store magazine rack as I was waiting. One CD just popped up as I was browsing (we must have won that night because I was feeling curious) and it said Live - Built To Spill. Some of you may remember the York, PA band Live that had numerous hits in the early 90's. I thought this was their new CD so I bought it! I had no idea the band was Built To Spill and the album was Live. That was one of the best mistakes I ever made.

Built To Spill is an Alt-Country band, but not like, say Uncle Tupelo or Wilco. They are a Blues band, but not like The Black Keys or Gov't Mule. They are a Jam band, but not like Phish or Blues Traveler. They are tough to pin a label on honestly. They are considered Indie, but so is everyone with absolutely no radio airplay. I think it's safe to say they are Neil Young disciples, but it's almost like Neil Young meets The Allman Brothers Band. But not quite. First of all, I don't really even like live albums per se. I think I mentioned this recently. And this was my first foray into the world of Built To Spill. Wow! This is a fantastic recording all around. I instantly went out and bought their entire catalogue. I just love this band. Their studio records are great and their live show is flat awesome. Doug Martsch is one of the most underrated guitarists around. I'm out of superlatives I swear.

OK, wish me luck getting in tonight, but I don't like my chances about now. I'm posting an exceedingly long cover version of the awesome Neil Young dirge Cortez The Killer from 1975's Zuma. Built To Spill lovingly reproduce this song with such intensity I was hooked after a single listen. The rest of their Live album is so good I can't even convey my enthusiasm with any clarity. Under the radar for their entire existence, they get by on their enormously loyal cult like following (Hello) because they deliver time after time in concert. Check them out and enjoy this flawless remake of Cortez The Killer. Grab a cup of coffee or something because this is no three minute throwaway cover. And to think I haven't even heard a note of their brand new record called There is No Enemy that just dropped this past Tuesday. Hopefully that'll change this evening.

P.S. I'm in!! Just scored a ticket off Craigslist while waiting for this bear to upload. Score!