@LinerNotes

Seattle indie darlings Minus the Bear have a brand new music video out and this one is something rather special. Minus the Bear have collaborated with a top animation house and the Rug Burn channel to craft a video from their latest album, Infinity Overhead . If you like indie rock and professional animation with a decidedly indie style, come in and take a look.

If you weren't around on January 20th, 1983, here's what you missed: Han Solo would be frozen in carbonite for several more months, leg warmers were about to become de rigueur fashion for teenage girls, Underoath singer Spencer Chamberlain was barely two weeks old, KISS would appear for the first time sans make up later that year and music fans had long since learned that the music video had killed the radio star. Except Def Leppard would be having none of that, because on January 20th, 1983 the five lads from Sheffield, England released an album which would set fire to both radio and MTV.

It was a dark and mysterious place for a concert... During the late evening of January 11th, I found myself among a small group of music fans in a most unusual venue for a live performance. The artist we were there to see was cellist-singer, Unwoman. The location; one of the boiler rooms of the RMS Queen Mary ocean liner. It is not exaggerating when I say it is quite possible we shared in experiencing one of the best concert performances of the year.

On the evening of Friday the 11th of January, I was lucky enough to find myself seeing two different concerts in rather unusual locations. The first show of the evening featured the unique musical pantomime of San Diego's Steam Powered Giraffe, playing on the opening night of Her Royal Majesty's Steampunk Symposium. Roll up, roll up to find out about their 2¢ show.

"Have you seen my rat?" Welcome to another edition of Bonus Tracks, where the music-centric focus of this blog takes a left turn into other lands of awesome and often geeky adventure. This time, adventure is quite literally the theme, as I recap the events of a weekend spent aboard the Queen Mary, in attendance of the 2013 edition of Her Royal Majesty's Steampunk Symposium. Come inside and find out the story behind that incredibly epic picture above. Goggles not required.

For long time music fans, there are fewer and fewer "firsts" one can experience. Last night I experienced several of them. The biggest of which was after a 20+ year wait, I finally got to experience Social Distortion live. For the better part of a decade, the favorite sons of Fullerton, California have played an annual series of homecoming gigs at the Anaheim House of Blues, and faster than igniting a Zippo these concerts sell out. Always. This year was different.