Author: Taylor

Cars Tribute CD Now Available

Taylor

A tribute to one of our all-time favorite bands, The Cars. Long overdue, this 21 track tribute showcases versions of Cars faves from Jon Auer(the Posies), Jason Falkner, Butch Walker, Owsley, Bleu, Gigolo Aunts(featuring Kid Lightning), Doug Powell, Damone, The Argument, Chris Von Sneidern, Action Action, Dum Dog Run(Rick Altizer), The Millions, Spiraling, The Bravery, sparkle*jets uk, The Andersons!, JohnnyMonaco, The Daybirds and The Cautions.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this CD will be donated to the American Cancer Society, In memory of Ben Orr.

Jon contributrs the track ‘Misfit Kid’. Click here to visit Not Lame’s site for the album to purchase it and hear Jon’s cover. (Not in stores yet; the album will end up there in the new year.)

JONAUER.com is launched!

Taylor

From Jon, as posted by Michelle to the dear23 list:

Hey there, y’all…

I wanted to let you know that WWW.JONAUER.COM is up and running as of today!

Feel free to check it out and tell all your friends that the seemingly

impossible has finally happened.

Let there be light! Pigs do fly and hell definitely can freeze over…

And but of course me and mine wish all of you and yours a very happy holiday

season as well…

Cheers,

Jon

KS.com update

Taylor

Last night’s REM show in Mexico City was outstanding, and despite the fact that Mssrs. Buck and McOi were weathering some food blues, they soldiered on, bolstered by a wonderful audience of some 12,000-14,000 people. I saw something I had never seen an audience do before: during the song “Wanted to Be Wrong” which has a slow but steady beat, the crowd both clapped on the snare (a refreshing change when an audience can find 2 & 4 in a measure) and flicked their lighters on and off to the beat…creating a “thousand strobing fireflies” effect (previously an entree on a chinese menu, or a Magnetic Fields song)…beautiful. The roar that arose at the top of “Everybody Hurts” and “Losing My Rel.” was louder than the level onstage by a fair piece, I had to count in my head and hope I came out on the beat when the noise subsided. It made the corner of my eyes squirt little tears, to feel that big surge of love and joy from so many people. Our guide during our day at Teotihuan, Gorilla, was very visible in a bright red shirt in the 5th row…he brought us some very lovely things, crytals and a kind of champagne cider…he knows there are many routes to the mystic planes, and we love him for that. After the show we were whisked out in a string of CIA-looking SUVs, with a death defying police cruiser leading the way…a couple of merges looked like somebody was going to eat concrete but there was nary a scratch all told. We had a gathering in the Hotel Habita’s hipster oasis, rooftop style, I was speaking broken French and Spanish and being forgiven (rocker immunity). Finally returned from some noisy club or other at about 6 this morning–my gracious thanks to Eduardo and Laura for ferrying me around and preventing from paying for drinks!

I have the latest flight out, 9:30 tonight direct to CDG, so I am the last one at the hotel, thus when I went out in the (late) afternoon I dined at a taqueria solo, strolled thru the neighborhood a bit, doves pecking around, flower petals wilting in the gutter, forcing all that technicolor dusk to get in there, keep that memory…which is a sign I must be going on. I feel like I’ve been in town for a month, but it was a well-lived 4 days.

Cold World glory, be ye prepared.

Love

KS

Mexico City

KS EUROPEAN TOUR BEGINS NEXT WEEK – mirrored from KS.com

Taylor

And I hope to see you all there, since I can’t see you here…some people have written in to me about ticket availability, but I can assure you that all the shows have tickets available, and almost all the venues have tickets for sale online. I found most of them by doing a search for the venue’s name, and if that produced too many results, the venue name plus the city narrowed it down to an easily managed list.

The Posies northwest dates last week were fun and furious, perhaps the first night at Neumo’s was the most magical—the level of physical commitment required by a Posies show is very high, compared to what is required of me physically in an REM show. What a Posies show takes from me is probably similar to what Michael expends during REM’s show, he does the running, contorting, and just plain high-energy wiggling parts. And singing constantly for 2 hours is not to be underestimated as a workout. So, by the second night in Tacoma, we played well, but perhaps things were a hair more mellow. But, I really enjoyed being onstage with mssrs. Auer, Harris, and Minwalla, and working up the new songs we performed gave insight to the great promise the new album’s material has for live delivery. Jon, Matt & I also spent a day in the mastering lab assembling the Posies album, which is really where a record changes from a pile of recordings generated in the studio to something worth giving a title to. Information is still as valuable as its organization and presentation, and mastering is where those two items take shape in the audio world. Over the next few weeks the visual accompaniment will take shape…

This week REM wraps Leg 1 of their tour; we’ve been spending some days off in Mexico City—parties, pyramids, and prodigious amounts of foodstuffs. It’s one of those “I could live here” cities…and I think living at 7500 ft. above sea level makes you healthier. Dermatologists may disagree.

I really enjoyed seeing my fat butt in a paparazzi shot in one of the big Mexico City dailies, the photogs snagged us at the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

See you (the European yous) soon

Love

KS

Mexico, D.F.

Dates:

12/7 Paris, FRANCE–Le Reservoir (w/Cristina Dona)

12/8 London, UK–the Borderline

12/9 Glasgow, UK–King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut

12/10 Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS–Paradiso

12/11 Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS–Rotown (w/Cristina Dona)

12/12 Stockholm, SWEDEN–Debaser (w/Cristina Dona)

12/13 Gothenburg, SWEDEN–Pusterviksbaren (w/Cristina Dona)

12/14 Oslo, NORWAY–Betong (w/Kenneth Ishak)

12/15 Bergen, NORWAY–Garage (w/Kenneth Ishak)

12/16 Köln, GERMANY–MTC (w/Cristina Dona)

12/17 Berlin, GERMANY–Bastard (w/Cristina Dona)

12/18 Frankfurt, GERMANY–Nachtleben (w/Cristina Dona)

12/19 Geneva, SWITZERLAND–Chat Noir

12/20 Brussels, BELGIUM–Botanique (w/Cristina Dona)

12/21 Helsinki, FINLAND–Tavastia

12.23 Milan, ITALY–La Casa 139 (w/Cristina Dona)

12/28 Valencia, SPAIN–Wah Wah

12/29 Barcelona, SPAIN–Sidecar

12/30 Madrid, SPAIN–Moby Dick (w/Scott McCaughey)