The Crossing - January 2011

Yes, hello again. Have we met? We may have met. We may not have met. The important thing is that you are here. You came to the right place. Music and movie release dates are here and music and movies is the stuff that makes people who they are. No one would be anything if it wasn't for music and movies. You know how I know? Well, I just know. (I'm kidding here, work with me!) I also know what you're thinking: where have you been? It's midway through January and we haven't seen hide nor hair of you.

Well, you know, good things take time. And The Crossing is always stuffed to the brim with good things. That's why you keep coming back. 

It's a new year (2011 for those keeping track), but it really doesn't matter that it's new. Why? Well, because the rock `n roll just keeps marching on. There's no stopping it! In the immortal words of Twisted Sister, you can't stop rock `n roll! Truer words have never been spoken. Pick a year, any year. Rock `n roll will be leading the way and found in all the headlines. 

Let's get down to business:

I'm going to try and keep The Crossing updated monthly, but you know, sometimes life and work gets in the way. But, my intention is to get The Crossing updated regularly.

You may or may not have noticed (possibly because no-one gets that far down the page), but I have an email address you can reach me at to ask vital questions or just to say `what's up?' or to send me timely release dates for your favorite bands and artists. I can't get everything listed, but I do try!   

So send me an email if you like. Just don't send me spam because the only thing that can do is waste your time and my time, not to mention valuable web space. (Again, kidding.)

Here's what you need to know this month in summary:

1.) It's January.
2.) It's 2011
3.) Rock `n roll is here to stay, doesn't matter what year it is.

In the exuberant words of the innovative 80's band The Cars who are incidentally back together as we speak: Let's Go!

Recently released and not mentioned in last edition:

* Bill Mallonee - WPA Vol. 9: Drifter Songs EP and `Ti Jean': Hearts Crossing the Center Line: a Tribute to Jack Kerouac. Both available here: http://billmalloneemusic.bandcamp.com/
* Gomez - Machismo EP (download.)
* Michael Stanley - Shadowlands (download only; yes, the 70's Michael Stanley.)
* Robert Lopata - 444
* The Church - Deep in the Shallows (2 CD compilation.)

1/4

+ Dinner for Schmucks
+ The Yellow Handkerchief
+ Case 39
+ Catfish
+ Howl
+ Machete
+ The Last Exorcism

1/11

* The Decemberists - The King is Dead (Gillian Welch and Peter Buck guest.)
* Cage the Elephant - Thank You, Happy Birthday
* Cake - Showroom of Compassion
* Tapes `N Tapes - Outside
* Broken Records - Let Me Come Home
* British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
* Starflyer 59 - Changing of the Guard
* Nova Mob ­ The Last Days of Pompeii
* Edie Brickell - S/T
* Steel Magnolia - S/T
* Birds of Avalon - S/T
* Wire - Red Barked Tree
* INXS - Original Sin (Hits revisited w/many guest singers.)
+ Dances With Wolves (20th anniversary.)
+ The Social Network
+ Heartbreaker
+ Alpha and Omega
+ Piranha 3D

1/18

* Social Distortion - Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes
* White Lies - Ritual
* The Script - Science & Faith
* Dolorean - The Unfazed
* Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival
* Tennis - Cape Dory
* Daniel Martin Moore - Cool of the Day
* Only Son ­ Searchlight
* The Fall ­ This Nation's Saving Grace
* Eulogies - Tear the Fences Down
* Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
* Modern Skirts - Gramahawk
* Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks
* Gregg Allman - Low Country Blues
* James Blunt - Some Kind of Trouble
* Steve Lukather - All's Well That Ends Well
* Janedear Girls - S/T
* The Jayhawks - `Hollywood Town Hall' and `Tomorrow the Green Grass' (Expanded reissues.)
* Pearl Jam - Live on Ten Legs
+ Stone
+ Buried
+ Takers
+ Animal Kingdom
+ Jack Goes Boating

1/25

* Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
* Deerhoof - Vs. Evil
* Amos Lee - Mission Bell
* Apex Manor - Year of Magical Drinking
* Gang of Four - Content
* Corinne Bailey Rae - Love EP
* Lynn Miles - Fall for Beauty
* Joan as Police Woman - The Deep Field
* 13th Floor Elevators ­ Easter Everywhere
* Get Up Kids - There Are Rules
* The Gaddabouts - S/T (Edie Brickell side project w/Steve Gadd.)
* Robin Zander - Countryside, Blvd. (Cheap Trick singer shows his country side.)
* Pendulum - Immersion
* Architects - The Here and Now
* Magnum - Visitation
* TNT - A Farewell to Arms
* Thin Lizzy - 3 Deluxe editions
* John Waite - Rough & Tumble (import.)
+ Joe Strummer Tribute Concert: Cast a Long Shadow
+ Nowhere Boy (a film about the early years of John Lennon.)
+ Secretariat
+ The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
+ Red
+ Reflections
+ Like Dandelion Dust
+ Sex & Drugs & Rock `N Roll

2/1

* Bob Marley - Live Forever: Live from Pittsburgh 1980 (Deluxe edition.)
* David Lowery ­ The Palace Guards (Singer of Cracker.)
* Matisyahu - Live at Stubbs II
* David Wax Museum - Everything Is Saved
* Nathan Moore - Dear Puppeteer
* The Bridge - National Bohemian
* The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
* Tristens - Charlatans of the Garden Gate 
* Tina Dico - Welcome Back Colour
* Todd Snider - The Storyteller (2 CD's.)
* Bobby Long - A Winter Tale
* Carrie Rodriguez & Ben Kyle - We Still Love Our Country
* Big Head Todd & the Monsters - Big Head Blues Club
* Jeff Beck - Rock `N Roll Party (honoring Les Paul.)
* Bang Tango - `Psycho Cafe' and `Dancin' On Coals' (reissues.)
* Warlock - `True as Steel' and `Triumph and Agony' (reissues.)
+ Conviction
+ Never Let Me Go
+ Monsters
+ Let Me In (American version of `Let the Right One In'.)
+ The Pat Tillman Story

2/8

* Over the Rhine - The Long Surrender (Produced by Joe Henry; Lucinda Williams guests.)
* Motorhead - The World is Yours
* Steve Kilbey - White Magic
* ...Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead
* The Boxer Rebellion - Cold Still
* Rhino Bucket ­ Who's Got Mine
* Jessica Lee Mayfield - Tell Me
* The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
* Cut Copy - Zonoscope
* Drew Holcomb - Chasing Someday
* Teddy Thompson - Bella
* Danny Schmidt - Man of Many Moons
* Hurtsmile ­ S/T (Gary Cherone project.)
* Shooter Jennings ­ Black Ribbon (Deluxe edition.)
+ Billy Joel ­ The Last Play at Shea
+ Waiting for `Superman'
+ The Romantics
+ It's Kind of a Funny Story
+ You Again
+ For Colored Girls
+ Life as We Know It
+ Middle Men
+ My Soul to Take
+ Paranormal Activity 2

2/15

* Buffalo Tom - Skins
* Bright Eyes - The People's Key (Conor Oberst, of course.)
* Drive By Truckers - Go Go Boots
* Hayes Carll - Kmag Yoyo & Other American Stories
* The Cowboy Junkies - The Nomad Series: Demons, Vol.2
* The Dears - Degeneration Street
* P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
* DeVotchka - 100 Lovers
* Black Pistol Fire - S/T
* Rev Theory - Justice
* Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
* Yellowbirds - The Color
* Skylit Drive - Identity on Fire
* Jae - Balls and Kittens, Draught and Strangling Rain
* Ben Ottewell - Shapes and Shadows (Member of Gomez.)
* Sonic Youth - Simon Werner a Disparu (soundtrack.)
* Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die... (Deluxe.)
* North Mississippi Allstars - Keys to the Kingdom
* Tim Burton & Danny Elfman - Music Box
* Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (Deluxe.)
* Robin Trower - BBC 1973-75
* Nelson - Lightning Strikes Twice
* Stryper - The Covering (The Yellow and Black Attack cover all your 70's and 80's hard rock/metal favorites.)
+ Unstoppable
+ Get Low
+ You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger

2/22

* Bayside - Killing Time
* The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
* Adele - 21
* Florence and the Machine - Between Two Lungs 
* G. Love - Fixin' to Die (produced by Avett Brothers.)
* Lauren Pritchard - Wasted in Jackson
* Gil Scott-Heron - We're New Here
* Black 47 - Cutting the Rug: A Black 47 Party
* Builders and Butchers - Dead Reckoning
* Joan Armatrading - Live at Royal Albert Hall
* Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Live at Nassau Coliseum 1978
* Johnny Cash - Bootlegs - Vol. 1: Personal File and Vol. 2: From Memphis to Hollywood
+ Depeche Mode - Rewind: 30 Years at the Edge
+ Fish Tank
+ Due Date
+ Megamind

3/1

* Lucinda Williams - Blessed (2 CD version available.)
* Buddy Miller - Majestic Silver Strings (Many guests; available w/DVD.)
* Eisley - The Valley
* Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding (Produced by Steve Lillywhite; members of Oasis.)
* Ray Davies - See My Friends (Kinks songs revisited w/many guests.) 
* John Popper - S/T (New side project band.)
* Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
* Ron Sexsmith - Long Player, Late Bloomer
* Those Dancing Days - Daydreams and Nightmares
* Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi - Rome
* Go Radio - Lucky Street
* Antigone Rising - 23 Red
* Blessid Union of Souls - The Mission Field
* The Dropkick Murphys - Going Out of Style
+ Faster
+ Burlesque

3/8

* R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (Eddie Vedder guests.)
* Bruce Cockburn - Small Source of Comfort
* Sixpence None the Richer - Strange Conversations (Still a tentative date.)
* Noah & the Whale - Last Night on Earth
* Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby
* Sara Evans - Stronger
* The High Kings - Memory Lane
* Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (40th anniversary Deluxe.)
+ The Next Three Days
+ Morning Glory
+ Inside Job (documentary.)
+ Every Day
+ Four Lions

3/15

* June Tabor - Ashore
* Rise Against - Endgame
* J. Mascis - Several Shades of Why
* The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
* The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
* Laura Jansen - Bells
* Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now
* Steve Martin - Rare Bird Alert (Comedian's second bluegrass album.)
* Sammy Hagar - Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock (Autobiography.)
+ The Switch
+ Hereafter
+ Skyline
+ Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest

3/22

* The Strokes - TBA
* William Fitzsimmons - Gold in the Shadow
* Edwyn Collins - Losing Sleep
* Yellowcards - When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes
* Karen Ann - 101
* Gretchen Parlato - The Lost and Found
* Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
* Jeffrey Foucault - Horse Latitudes
* The Poison Tree - S/T
* The Lonely Forest - Arrows 
* The Human League - Credo
* Green Day - Awesome as... (CD/DVD; Live from the 2009/10 tour.)
* Soundgarden - Live on I5 (1996 show.)
+ Concert for George Harrison (blu-ray.)

3/29

* The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
* Peter Bjorn & John - Gimme Some
* Heidi Spencer - Under Streetlight Glow
* Michael Grimm - S/T 
* Those Darlins - Screws Got Loose
* Pete Yorn - Music for the Morning After (10th anniversary Deluxe.)
* Whitesnake - Forevermore
* Derek & the Dominos - Layla and Other Love Songs (box set.)
+ Fair Game
+ Tangled
+ All Good Things
+ Mao's Last Dancer

4/5

* They Might Be Giants - TBA
* The Kills - Blood Pressures

4/12

* Gillian Welch - TBA (Big time tentative date.)
* Alison Krauss - TBA
* Bell X1 - Bloodless Coup
* Fiery Furnaces - TBA

LYRICS of the MONTH:

"On a winter's Sunday I go
To clear away the snow
And green the ground below
April all an ocean away
Is this the better way to spend the day?
Keeping the winter at bay
What were the words I meant to say before you left?
When I could see your breath lead
Where you were going to
Maybe I should just let it be
And maybe it will all come back to me
Sing: O January O

How I lived a childhood in snow
And all my teens in tow
Stuffed in strata of clothes
Pale the winter days after dark
Wandering the gray memorial park
A fleeting beating of hearts

What were the words I meant to say before she left? 
When I could see her breath lead
Where she was going to
Maybe I should just let it be
And maybe it will all come back to me
Sing: O January O"

Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), the song "January Hymn" from the album The King is Dead released this month.

http://www.decemberists.com/news/

Stay warm!

See you in February.

Chris Barlow
cbcrossing@yahoo.com