Let's see.... nineteen plus sixteen.... Hey! Wait a minute!

Good point - terrible math. More like twenty seven years.

and they covered the supremely sad, trashy and melodramatic "Out In The Streets."

Bad ass! Sounds like a blast!

Once again, my MIT education pays off!

Bad ass! Sounds like a blast!

Truly. All three new covers were just so apt. The crowd was really into singing all those little girl group bits in the trashy punk context too. The werewolf yelps in "Personality Crisis" and I can't tell you how cool that Memphis Minnie song was in this version. It was perfect.

Now playing at my desk: Smile.

Now playing at my desk: Smile.

Glad you're enjoying it. I've been listening to that and Blueberry Boat exclusively for days on end now.

I wanted to know a bit more about the Dolls guitarist, Steve Conte. He played for The Seatbelts! The band that does the Cowboy Bebop music! Weird. Here's his fanboy report of the London show:

******

NEW YORK DOLLS REPORT!
Steve's Account Of London Show:

just got back from the meltdown festival in london where i played two amazing shows as lead guitarist with the new york dolls. wednesday's show was tight but the sold out friday show was loose, charmingly sloppy and totally rockin' ("filthy" as one fan put it).

both nights the audiences went ape-shit and honored the band with standing ovations. after the first song david johansen would shout out- "that's steve conte on guitar!" (later in the show he put his arms around me and said to the crowd, "not many people could replace the late johnny thunders - but this is steve conte and he's doing a fantastic job!"...then kissed me on the top of my head as the crowd cheered.)

besides the actual music (and on & offstage comraderie between myself, david, sylvain and arthur kane) the highlight for me was the after-party where pretenders' chrissie hynde, one of my all time heroes came up to me and shook my hand saying "you were fucking great - and those are hard shoes to fill". she didn't even seem to care that i had on leather pants and suede boots (she's a militant animal rights activist...)

a few minutes later on my way into our dressing room a geezer standing in the doorway stuck out his hand and said, "you don't know me but i'm mick jones...and i thought you were great". it was kinda surreal to have the singer of the clash introduce himself like that and then proceed to gab about les paul juniors with me for a half hour.

morissey, who is responsible for getting the dolls back together told me how much he appreciated it while bob geldof (remember Live Aid?), sex pistols bassist glen matlock and shane mcgowan of the pogues came over to say how much they dug my playing too (well, shane just sort of slurred and mumbled.)

Hee! Total fanboy. What a thrill it must be for him. Adorable.

DX -- the Chicago pbs station played the Yes concert too.

Lovely Local Review of the Dolls concert

I have been given the task of tracking down some music for my mother, the queen of the big bands. My initial googling gets me nothing, so I thought I'd see if y'all had any ideas. She wants a CD of Francis Craig, her favorite band leader. She still has a number of his songs on 78s, but has no way to play them. There is a book about Francis Craig with an accompanying CD that I'm buying her, but I'm trying to see if there's anything else out there. I'd imagine almost anything you'd find would have his big hit, "Near You," and probably "I Beg Your Pardon." Also, are there any services that copy 78s?