Big Takeover #62 About To Ship: Contents Details / Update Your Address by Jack Rabid

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #62 with R.E.M. on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April! It will begin shipping this week likely, so you should see it quite soon! Included in this blog is a quick description of its contents.

Big Takeover #62 About To Ship: Update Your Address ASAP by Jack Rabid

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #62 with R.E.M. on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April! It will begin shipping this week likely, so you should see it quite soon! Included in this blog is a quick description of its contents. If you are a subscriber and you need to update your address, please tell us right away, as we need to have the shipping order updated no later than Wednesday at 3 PM Eastern Time.

Jack Rabid’s Top Ten — May 4 by Jack Rabid

The latest top 10!

Final Night Guest Review From Noise Pop Festival by Jerry Connolly: Old Chicago Punk Movie, British Sea Power, and More! by Jack Rabid

A film that I’ve been dying to see since the trailer showed up on Youtube last year: You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984. Clubs like Oz and O’Banions stayed just one step ahead of the law (thanks in part to likely payoffs to the man) and managed to host many classic shows by the likes of The Effigies, Naked Raygun, and Strike Under. The live footage shown was just stunning: The Effigies at OZ in all their boots-and-braces glory, for instance. Early incarnations of Naked Raygun playing loft parties!!!! Amazing stuff. I can’t say enough about how good this film is and it how it succeeds on so many levels. A must see…

NEW YORKERS (and Grand Rapids and later Philadelphia): Go see ASTRID WILLIAMSON live this week! Rare chance!!! / NOISE POP, SAN FRANCISCO, NIGHT 3, FEBRUARY 29 BY JERRY CONNOLLY by Jack Rabid

Scottish born, English artist ASTRID WILLIAMSON is a longtime favorite of The Big Takeover, and she rarely plays in the U.S. This week brings three chances to catch her awesome set of pipes (two gigs in New York, both of them free admission, as well as Grand Rapids, with one in Philly a few months later) / “Day three of Noise Pop (day two for me, as I missed out on Thursday’s debauchery with a headache, alas), has me biking to Bottom of the Hill (BOTH) in the Portrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. BOTH has been my frequent destination for live music over the 11 years I have lived in The City, and I could get here with my eyes shut. The mid-size club (capacity being 300) has great sound and a decent layout. And I can’t help but feel very comfortable as I walk through to door at 9:00 sharp. I’m here to see VEIL VEIL VARNISH, WHITE DENIM, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, and HOLY F**.”

NOISE POP, SAN FRANCISCO, NIGHT 1, FEBRUARY 27 BY JERRY CONNOLLY; R.I.P. MIKE CONLEY, SINGER OF '80s PUNK BAND M.I.A. by Jack Rabid

OK, so it’s not on par with SXSW but maybe it’s not trying to be. The overall feel is less an obvious industry love fest and more of an event where a fan can enjoy an evening without fear of being kept out of a show by industry snobs filling the room with their hot air and BO, or run over by the truck dispensing free ginseng energy drinks. Noise Pop seemingly caters to the actual music lover, and in this writer’s eyes that’s the way it should be. This fan-centric attitude can only come from the top, and by that I mean KEVIN ARNOLD, its founder and passionate supporter of independent music. To say that he has done a service to the independent music community is the understatement of the decade. Thanks Kevin.

Jack Rabid’s Top Ten — February 24 by Jack Rabid

It's True: I'm a Dad (Welcome Jim); old Springhouse videos on MySpace / 5 More Special Issue 61 Bonus Reviews!: Nick Drake, Echo & the Bunnymen, Good City Lie Still, Gram Parsons & the Flying Burrito Bros., and The Red Button / New Issue of Big T by Jack Rabid

I would like to welcome my son Jim into the world, born 23 days ago. I’m hoping his progress will be quick enough so that he will be able to compose all my reviews and do all my interviews for me in time for the spring issue 62. A couple of you were kind enough to write and congratulate me after seeing little James Burton make the coveted #1 spot in Steve Holtje’s Top 10 on this site last week (see, he’s already overachieving), and thanks to Steve-o for that honor as well. Who wants photos? / Who wants old Springhouse videos, on MySpace? / Here’s five more reviews of old stuff I ran out of time to review that should have been in the last issue!

Jack Rabid’s Top Ten — January 13 by Jack Rabid

The latest top 10!

Special Issue 61 Bonus Reviews!: Keren Ann, Condors, Feist, Raspberries, Rotary Club, Shack, Soul Asylum, and Factory Records' Complete Graphic Album Book / Our Condolences to Two of our Own / New Issue of Big Takeover by Jack Rabid

The five reviews of mine included here did not appear in issue 61 of The Big Takeover, because I frankly ran out of time in my seemingly endless writing job to do them in time before the issue had to be closed and sent off to the printer. But they all deserved better and I am glad to print them here rather than making you all wait several more months to read them in issue 62. Likewise, the other three, written by three of our other talented and valuable writers, did not appear in 61 for other reasons explained herein.

Jack Rabid’s Top Ten — December 30 by Jack Rabid

The latest top 10!

R.I.P. Evan Farrell, ex-Rogue Wave (and Oscar Peterson, too) / Two new books of note I am quoted in / Happy New Year! / New Issue of Big Takeover by Jack Rabid

I am stunned and saddened to hear that another death has befallen the Rogue Wave folks.

REMINDER: BIG TAKEOVER - STILL IN TIME FOR X-MAS GIFTS! / New Big Takeover #61 (New Pornographers cover) Began Shipping!; Order/Subscribe/Renew/Perfect Holiday Gift! by Jack Rabid

Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! Indeed, if you want a holiday gift subscription for your friends or family whom you think would enjoy our pages (or one of our t-shirts, or any of our back issues, or our CDs), you can still order on our secure online store. Just let us know in the “comments” section of the order form that the order is for X-mas (why not write, in all caps, “RUSH! THIS IS FOR X-MAS!”), and we will be glad to send the package by priority mail to ensure it gets there fast and on time. And include in the “gift message” section anything you want to say, and we’ll take it from there.

Jack Rabid’s Top Ten — December 2 by Jack Rabid

Cavestomp (Sonics! wow!) live review! / New Big Takeover #61 (New Pornographers cover) Began Shipping!; Order/Subscribe/Renew/Perfect Holiday Gift! by Jack Rabid

Big Takeover #61 with THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS’ A.C. NEWMAN began shipping last week; Again, now is an excellent time to order it if you would like to receive it! / Sonics: ”’He’s Waiting’ is the opener. There’s the voice; how is it so nearly the same?”