Waiting on Atmosphere

Last update: March 20, 2008 - 3:29 PM

One of the Minne-centric events we didn't make it to at last week's South by Southwest Music Conference was the listening party for Atmosphere's "When Life Gives You Lemons ... " (It's hard to stomach recorded music when probably 200 bands were performing live in Austin at that very moment.) The Current's Bill Deville did attend, however, and told us that the April 22 release actually includes beatboxing by Tom Waits. Apparently, Waits' son is a big fan. Back in the office this week, we got a promo package featuring an actual lemon coated in gold paint, along with a sampler of 15 previously released songs. We also got a kick out of the four "Wayne's World"-type "Paint It Gold" videos posted at Rhymesayers.com. Even without any advance copies sent to the press (to avoid pre-release bootlegging), the album is getting its fair share of hype.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Never say hello? How would it feel if you were standing 20 feet away from Jon Bon Jovi and he starting telling 18,000 people all about you? That's what happened Tuesday at Xcel Center to radio exec John Lassman, program director of WLTE and Jack FM. The rock star was reminiscing about all the years that Lassman had played his music on KQRS. Then he reached way back to 1982, before the band had a record deal. Lassman was working at a radio station in Long Island, and Bon Jovi brought him a cassette tape of his first song, "Runaway," Lassman's was "one of eight stations" that played it, the singer said. "I choked up," said Lassman, who was standing in a corral on the side of the stage with his wife, Cherise, who used to promote Bon Jovi's albums for Mercury. But when Lassman went backstage to meet opening act Chris Daughtry, "I couldn't get anywhere close to Jon," he told I.W.

JON BREAM

Daughtry in studio

The folks at Winterland Studio in New Hope can vouch that Chris Daughtry is at least one "American Idol" alum who's a real musician. He and his eponymously named band took advantage of their two-day layover in town with Bon Jovi and spent one day recording. They laid down an acoustic version of the previously released song "What About Now" for iTunes. Winterland gave the guys a little extra swagger with its (outdated) magazine selection. Said producer/engineer Todd Fitzgerald, "We happened to have an old Billboard from 2006 in our lobby, when the Daughtry album was No. 3 on the charts. They liked seeing that."

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Jick-jacking his jaw

He long ago split with his cult-loved band Pavement, but Stephen Malkmus hasn't lost his so-subtle-it's-almost-not-there wit. Making a shout-out to the St. Paul residents who came to Tuesday's First Avenue gig with his band the Jicks, he gave his (likely made-up) view of the capital city: "It's not as cool now that they have a smoking ban." Later, after (disappointingly) surveying the crowd, he surmised: "A lot of dudes." Then, when mentioning that a song was inspired by a book called "The Worst Journey in the World," he (wrongly) explained, "It's an autobiography by Steve Perry." Can't wait to hear the title of Malkmus' own autobio.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Shaken and stirred

Who knew you could you hear songs in Turkish, French, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish on a Tuesday night in St. Paul? Pink Martini, the 12-member band from Oregon, shook it up for a full house at the Fitz with its multi-culti love, swoon and get-off-the-couch tunes. Pianist and founder Thomas Lauderdale said one song was inspired by the first President Bush. Urban legend has it that Bush and/or his staff nicknamed the city of Portland "Little Beirut" because of the number of protests there. "We thought it was appropriate to record a song in Arabic," Lauderdale said before turning over the mike to ululating chanteuse China Forbes for her rendition of "Bukra Wba'do" ("Tomorrow and the Day After").

SARAH T. WILLIAMS

Georgette would never

It's been more than 30 years since Georgia Engel ended her Emmy-nominated association with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," but there she was at the Ordway Center Tuesday night in "The Drowsy Chaperone," looking and sounding just like Georgette Franklin Baxter. As dotty Mrs. Tottendale (a role she originated on Broadway), Engel had the trademark lispy whisper, the familiar oval-shaped smile and the delightfully old-fashioned comic timing. She and Georgette parted company, however, in a scene where she repeatedly spit vodka in the face of the Underling (Robert Dorfman). If Georgette had done that, even once, she'd have breathlessly whispered "Excuse me."

CLAUDE PECK