Today is the second annual Record Store Day. Stores across the country are holding huge sales, giveaways and special in-store entertainment to encourage people to give iTunes a day off and buy some physical music (Remember? CDs? Vinyl?).

Everyone should go check this out: The guys at Kissing Suzy Kolber – the best damn sports blog, period – did a mock draft to compile their funeral playlist. Awesome. Among the highlights: “Life is a Bitch” by Nas, “Tom Traubert’s Blues” by Tom Waits and a robust discussion about which Radiohead song is the [...]

It’s my birthday, so I’m indulging and featuring a track by one of my favorite musicians, Tom Waits, despite the fact that no one else on our staff can stand him.
“Downtown Train” appeared on Waits’ seminal Rain Dogs album in 1985 and was an outlier for the middle of Waits’ avant-garde phase. Instead of the [...]

It’s that time of year again — the turkey leftovers are long gone and we’re hearing Christmas music in every store in town, so it must be time for best-albums-of-year lists.
After screaming matches, insults and a fist fight or two, the dust has settled and the Stranger Dance staff stands before you united with our [...]

“Yo Flav, you think we’re gonna sell out?”
“I know if we do, we’ll get the hell out!”
— Public Enemy, “Caught, Can We Get A Witness?”
Since the first time it aired, I wondered like hell what Chuck D’s reaction was to “Flavor of Love.” Mine included the words “what,” “the” and “fuck.” In that order, with [...]

I’ve held off on posting this for a little while now to avoid the backlash from the rest of the Stranger Dance staff who don’t share my Tom Waits obsession. But, this is too bizarre and funny to let pass.
Waits has never been one for convention. His musical style has jumped all over the musical [...]

I’m not sure if I’ve been under a rock on this one, but I’ve never heard of N.A.S.A. (the DJ duo, not the space agency). Luckily for them, they were obviously on the radars of more important people - their debut album, The Spirit of Apollo, features a veritable who’s who of indie-rock, rap and [...]

Just a reminder to everyone to head over to House of Shields (39 New Montgomery St.) Thursday from 6-10 p.m. (and hopefully later) for a CD release party for local artist Cousin Chris, who’s releasing his debut CD Moon Paper. There will be great food, great music, great people and, of course, beer.
If you’re a [...]

Here’s the second installment of three for our Outside Lands Festival preview. Today, we bring you songs by all of the artists appearing on Saturday of Outside Lands. You can find yesterday’s installments here: Friday lineup
With our fancy new media player, you can even hit the little play button next to any song and listen [...]

Tom Waits kicked off his 2008 “Glitter and Doom” tour with a two-night stay in Phoenix on the 17th.
Waits’ next stop was at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso, where he received an unexpected on-stage guest: a uniformed officer.
“I paid all those tickets,” Waits quipped when he saw the officer. “She was dead when I [...]