Why Boise State Should Join the Mountain West Conference and Join (Save) the BCS

First of all, my sincere apologies. This is a music blog and here I go talking about football of all things. I guess it's okay when no one reads your blog anyway.

I've been meaning to write this for some time, but was spurred on finally by a fantastic article by Rick Reilly, which you can find here.

We've heard every year that the BCS system is flawed and there is typically an argument by the team who just missed (or was never considered for) the national title game. I hope to avoid rehashing the tired arguments that you've already heard here.

My interest lies chiefly with the Mountain West Conference. This is a conference that 5 years ago had very little respect in the nation and was very solidly located middle of the road, or maybe even closer to the end of the road, when it came to overall conference power. However, this is no longer the case. The MWC has steadily become a force to be reckoned with. This year is a great example, with Utah (arguably one of the best teams in the nation), TCU, Air Force, and Brigham Young all putting up great seasons.

Are they as strong as the Big 12 or SEC? No, probably not.
Are they as strong as the Pac-10 or Big-10? Overall, maybe not, but Utah and TCU could have competed very well in these conferences.
Are they as strong as the ACC or Big East? Yes. Most definitely. And these are automatic BCS berth conferences, to boot.

So why has the Mountain West been left out? Well, this falls under the category, I think, of the MWC being comprised of schools that have not traditionally been football powerhouses. Also, the population of the mountain west states has historically been much smaller than those in the eastern U.S. However, consider that last year, 5 of the top 10 fastest growing states in the U.S. were in the geographic mountain west region, and guess what, Utah tops that list.

Will the BCS get "fixed" any time soon? I don't know, but as far as Utah is concerned, the BCS is already fixed.

My solution is that the Mountain West needs to be changed ever so slightly and then included as a BCS conference, from which the winner will then have the opportunity to play for the national title. The WAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, and MAC can't really make the same argument, so I think the argument is best focused on creating a strong conference of mountain west schools.

The primary change is that Boise State needs to be added to the MWC. Boise St. was undefeated this regular season, and then lost by 1 point in their bowl against TCU, the second place MWC school. Boise State and Utah are the 2 non-BCS schools that have won BCS bowl games. Utah has, in fact, won both BCS bowl games they have played in. Further, Boise State has been a consistently good program for the past decade, and a stronger conference is just the ticket for them to make the jump and silence the skeptics. According to some reports, they have already been invited to the Mountain West, so to an extent, they may control the BCS destiny of the top mountain west teams.

The other main change is the MWC must improve their strength of schedule for the next few years in order to gain the long term respect they need. These schools have beaten a number of BCS conference teams, but the biggest argument against them has always been their weak schedules. Add one more big conference team to the schedule, combined with the conference round robin of Utah, Boise St., TCU, Air Force, BYU, and even Colorado State, and you've got a conference that certainly deserves the same respect as the ACC and Big East. At the very least, the MWC winner should be allowed to play the winner of the ACC or Big East the last week of the season to determine their BCS status.

While I hate to discuss kicking schools out of the MWC, San Diego State is a weak link these days, and could be replaced by a school like Nevada, Tulsa or Rice, which would only strengthen the conference even more, and provide further justification for their inclusion as an automatic BCS berth school. Wyoming, UNLV and New Mexico are down as well, but showing promise, having beaten Tennessee, Arizona, and Arizona State this year, respectively.

My apologies to Hawai'i, but I just can't justify adding you into this conversation at this point.

3 Hard-to-Find Albums You'll Wish You Had Someday

The Lonelies - The Lonelies EP

This album is one of the early releases from songwriter extraordinaire Doug Burr. Doug has a couple of solo albums under his belt currently that are absolute pure gold in terms of quality, musicianship and substance. (I hope to provide a write-up of his upcoming release, The Shawl, in the next few months after I've had the chance to listen to it.
But back to the Lonelies, this EP exhibits some of Burr's older work, demonstrating that he has trouble touching/writing a song that doesn't turn to gold. "Carolina" may be the standout from this EP that I always come back to, although "Curse the Weatherman" runs a close second, and is sure to get stuck in your head. This EP was not widely distributed and is so rare it is not even available online. In fact, I even had some difficulty finding a picture of the cover. Probably a DFW area used record store is about your only hope for finding it these days. And while you're at it, keep an eye out for Doug's even more obscure pre-Lonelies solo release, Pokerface and for the Lonelies sophomore EP Democracy, Whiskey, & Sexy!

Obscurity Level: High
Obscurity Level for Pokerface: I'd like to shake your hand if you can find a copy of this album.

Eleven Hundred Springs - A Straighter Line

This acoustic album from another DFW area artist stands in mind as maybe the most fulfilling listen in the entire EHS discography. I don't know how many of these songs remain a part of the playlist on their live shows, but the album itself never really has a misstep. The lineup for the band has changed a good bit since this album, and thus, this may be the reason it is not still in print or available for digital download. Nonetheless, this album has a number of amazing songs including "Sad and Lonesome Song," "See You in the Next Life," and my personal favorite "Good Times, Hard Livin." Only "See You in the Next Life" has appeared on any subsequent EHS release, and thus, A Straighter Line remains the only way to hear the other two. This album sticks strongly to the band's country sound, but it is not strictly a honky-tonk record by any measure. This album also stands as the band's best lyrical quality in their catalogue.

Obscurity Level: Moderate

The V-Roys - All About Town

Looking back on the glory days of 90s alt country, the V-Roys have largely been forgotten. The band's frontman Scott Miller has continued with his solo career since the demise of the V-Roys, and in that time, his former band has largely fallen off the map. The mid to late 90s were a golden period of sorts for alt country, as it was gaining momentum, and was still composed of a relatively small scene. All About Town contains possibly some of the best songs from that era, including "Fade Away," "Testify," and "Hold on to Me." Luckily, the popularity of this band in the 90s led to a fairly wide distribution of the album, although I the CD is out of print and I don't believe it has been made available for digital download. Used copies are not too difficult to obtain at this point, although 5 years from now this may no longer be the case.

Obscurity Level: Low to Moderate

Four poets, two revivals, and a request for less beer and more whiskey

I've been meaning to write up a few shows for a while, but time hasn't really allowed for it. That's where it really benefits everyone that no one reads this blog anyway.

First off, almost 2 months ago now, was the Junkyard Ghost Revival. This is the fantastic spoken word tour that made the rounds for about 6 weeks across this nation. Although many guests joined the tour at various stops, the Boulder incarnation of this show featured Derrick Brown, hometown favorite Andrea Gibson, Anis Mojgani, and Buddy Wakefield. I was primarily there for Buddy Wakefield, followed by Andrea Gibson, and otherwise knew little about the other two. What we got was an awesome night of spoken word performance. (Called Slam Poetry by some, but it seems that word is out of vogue these days, which is just fine by me.) The great thing about this night was the great diversity of performances - something most wouldn't expect from a show with four spoken word artists. Nonetheless, no one disappointed. Anis showcased his strong suit, which is a quieter and maybe more introspective tone, while Derrick Brown often jumped back and forth over the line between poetry and some...sort...of...performance art or something. It's quite a unusual style, at least from my other experiences, and I was impressed by his near effortless transitions between humor and deeper emotions. Buddy Wakefield and Andrea Gibson, who possess what I consider slightly similar styles really brought out some incredible pieces and reinforced my whole reason for being there. One particular piece by Andrea Gibson, that I think she indirectly dedicated to Buddy, might have been the highlight of the night. It's one of those great experiences that I can't even recall that much about, and since I don't think there is even a youtube link of it, you'll just have to trust me that it was sensational.

Next up was the Revival Tour, featuring Ben Nichols, Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry, Jon Snodgrass, and Austin Lucas. For this collection of songwriters, my primary interests were in Ben Nichols and Jon Snodgrass, lead/co-lead singers of Lucero and Drag the River, respectively. Safe to say that this night did not disappoint. The highlights were probably as much Ben Nichols' in between song banter as anything. At one point, someone brought him a PBR, to which he thanked them but noted that beer just fills him up and thus, whiskey would be preferable. As usual, Jon from DTR played some great songs, although I wasn't close enough to request "Crocodile," which was a shame.

Don't know how long it will stay up, but a set list and recording of the show has been posted on the Lucero message board here and here. The first posting is an expired download link I think and the second is a FLAC download, which I think should be of better quality for those of you who still fight the futile fight to get good sound quality out of digital recordings. If you can get it, there's a great cover of Townes' "Colorado Girl" that Ben sings.

While I wasn't there to experience the event, sounds like the Lubbock Revival tour was quite the spectacle. A brief description of it can be found here. However, I don't think this does it justice, so hopefully you can find someone who went to describe the madness of the night.

And then I cried myself to sleep

Sorry if this kills my street cred (I'm not sure I had any though)

I must say though, that this Nike commercial just hits the spot though. Yes, it's the most corporate of corporate (Nike) with a song from a big label band (the Killers), but it's just darn good. Not sure how long the video will stay up on youtube, but watch it if you've got a minute.



I know this is the quintessential postmodern advertising scheme - images of victory, defeat, and despair set to a background of inspirational music that conjures emotion and makes you want to buy $170 shoes - but for what it's worth it's a good one. I have to say that I didn't even pay much attention to it until I saw the end with the final shot of Oscar Pistorius. While he didn't make the Olympics, he won the 100, 200, & 400 meters in the Paralympic games. This guy runs under an 11 second 100 meters.


Almost completely unrelated, but for those of you who saw the movie Murderball, the U.S. Quad Rugby team finally got the redemption they were looking for in Beijing, as they defeated Australia in the gold medal match.

Minilith - DeVotchKa "secret" show at the Fox Theatre

The first thing I heard this morning was from a friend who said that she just overheard that DeVotchKa was playing a secret show at the Fox in Boulder. My first reaction was skepticism. Followed by, well, I should look into it. Of course the internet says nothing, because even if they are playing, they can't advertise it because they're under contract with the Monolith festival.

The only band listed is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a band out of New Orleans who are great in their own right, but very different from DeVotchKa. I head up to the box office to try and find something out, and sure enough, the "Back in 5 minutes" is up at the desk. So I mill around for 20 minutes and nothing...

BUT, there is hope, the record store guy says that yes, they are playing tonight as a warm-up for their show at Monolith tomorrow. I'm going to keep mentioning Monolith, so if you don't know what it is you should just look it up. I'm not going, but it's lots of great music.

I digress...So anyway, while I'm waiting at the box office, I see Tom, Nick, and Shawn from DeVotchKa unloading their stuff and heading into the theater. We have confirmation.

Long story even longer, I bought tickets and wait for the night. Turns out we actually ate in a restaurant by the Fox and sat right across from Tom and Shawn. While I am clearly revealing my uncoolness now by talking about it, I restrained myself from bothering them and just let it go.

So the Fox probably holds 3-400 people, tops, FAR less than any DeVotchKa show would ever bring in these days. They are big nationwide, but they are huge in Colorado, such that they play 2 nights typically when they do shows here now, and mostly at bigger venues like Boulder Theater and the Fillmore. So essentially they're just too big to ever see them in an intimate venue again. Unless...

Yes, back to my story. Sure enough DeVotchKa goes on at 9 p.m., plays an amazing hour long set, mostly new stuff, but also including Queen of the Surface Streets, How it Ends, You Love Me, and Enemy Guns. Probably missed one or two there. But nonetheless, there were at most 150 people there, I would say. It was like seeing them in Denver 6 years ago, which was the last time I saw them with such a small crowd. It is such a rare thing to luck into seeing something like this. You have an arena level band and you're seeing them in a small theater. It was just amazing. I had honestly tired of seeing them recently, because I just don't like the big crowds. Not their fault, but still, this was just what I needed. Tomorrow they'll be playing to thousands of weary festival goers, but tonight we got to see them with their friends and family and whomever else found out through word of mouth.

I won't say it changed my life. I won't say it was once in a lifetime. But I will say it was worth every penny of the $20 tickets and every minute of the 60 minute show they put on. As a music fan, these are the times that really stand out, and I have to say that this one will be up there with the others that I'll want to tell people about.

As a side note, great feature on the band in this week's Westword. They were on the cover of Westword and Colorado Daily this week. I won't just regurgitate the story here, but pretty great seeing what they have achieved after basically just doing their thing for so long.

Everyone wants to say they were in on the ground floor

So we've all got our friends who are the ultimate in "one-upsmanship" when it comes to discovering new bands.

(I'm thinking especially of people who date their Old 97s fan status by what album they started listening to the band on. Mine was Too Far To Care. Not super early, but in my defense, I was only 13 when their first album came out.)

That said, the funny thing is that so rarely are bands really good when they first begin. Sure they have a few good songs that maybe sound a little too much like someone else, but it typically takes a few years of writing/touring/recording to develop anything of note. So where am I going with all of this? Nowhere fast?

Hopefully not, because the main reason for writing this is to note my recent discovery of a great band from El Paso called The Lusitania. I really just came to know about them from the line-up at Tuggfest, and have been getting increasingly impressed with the music on their myspace. They've got one album out and a 7" split out some time soon.

While they do have elements of a number of the bands that they list as influences, the important thing is that they are just a good listen. They've got a good mix of twang, vocal harmonies and rock all at the right times. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about this band, and I hope you'll take the time to check them out. Their CD is super cheap, and it's all a DIY operation right now, which is the best time to start supporting a band.

So if nothing else, check out their myspace, go see a live show on their upcoming tour if you can, and get in on the ground floor.

Tuggfest

I hope all you folks in Lubbock made it out to Tuggfest last Thursday night. For an entirely independently organized and promoted festival, it was a resounding success. While a festival like this may not make any of the bands rich, they should all be commended for making it such a great day of music.

Thanks again Lubbock for supporting local music.