Stuff this week

I'm so busy procrastinating I haven't had time to post much of anything useless lately.

However, I am finding Ben Kweller's new song "Fight" to be eerily reminiscent of Gram Parsons.  Maybe it's the pedal steel, but more likely I think it's the voice.  Can't believe this is the same guy whose Radish record I bought roughly 10 years ago.

And get this, his video for the song has been dominating on CMT.com's Pure 12 Pack countdown.  He was number 1 last week, probably because Ben Kweller fans are much more net savvy than, say Trace Adkin fans.  Just a guess.

You can vote for him this week here.  You get 12 votes, and I've just noticed a disturbing item - Kevin Costner has a song on the countdown.  (Not a typo.)  If you're going to vote, here's my recommendations - Ben Kweller, Bob Dylan, Raconteurs with Ricky Skaggs (not a typo).  After that, it gets tough.  Pick your poison, or just don't use all 12 votes.

I'm trying to figure out how "country" Ben is really becoming.  Usually when punk artists go country, they play the same stuff, but with a train beat on EVERYTHING.  I don't think that is the case though here.  Kweller started in Texas, moved away, did his thing, and then moved back to Austin to get back to basics or roots or something like that.  Seems like someone else did that...oh yeah, it was Willie. 

Man, is this too much like Gram?  I can't decide.  But I can follow him on Twitter to find out when he's eating breakfast each day.