Robbie Fulks

As we in Chicago continue to build our Ark and sweep the rising tide of frogs out the front door, we bid you WELCOME to the Friday digest.  Lots of fun things to look at and read about, so QUIT WORKING for a second.

• Ha Ha Tonka had a high-quality live shoot at the fabulous Off Broadway in St Louis on May 6th as part of the Born Small Town Tour kick-off party. Take a peep.

• Here's a fantastic piece on Scott H. Biram from the Austin Decider, it's got an interview and embedded links to videos and live performances.  Read about his whiskey benders and all the metal in his legs.

• Tired of rooting around the Interweb for all those CLASSIC Robbie Fulks songs? Our buddies (and fans) over at Glorious Noise put together a sampler to make life easier and boost your productivity. So, here's a BRAINLESS way to get a whole mess of Fulks tunes in one spot. Then you'll want more, and you'll want to legally support one of the best songwriters and performers to ever call Chicago home.

• Rob's Recommendation of the Week: The movie Up! Look, I hate popular culture more than any of you, so when something makes billions of dollars at the box office, i can usually safely assume it's pureed mush for the masses, but this is art. If you are not weepy and amazed at the depth of feeling and the economy of story telling in the first 10 minute segment, you have a heart of tar.  AND i haven't gut laughed that often at a movie in months. AND it's in 3D.  See it. Check your hipper-than-thou baggage at the door and soak in a great movie.

Ok, back to filling sandbags.

Snippets of interesting Bloodshottiness for your weekend perusal:

Happy Mother's Day! Mom is likely SICK AND TIRED of flowers, chocolates and dinners at Outback Steakhouse. Get her a Bloodshotglass or a Detroit Cobras album instead. Trust us, you'll become her favorite after that.

• The Detroit Cobras and Dex Romweber Duo kicked off a 6 week US double bill this week in Chicago. All us Bloodshot drones had a fantastic time. Go here for a review of the show and lots of excellent photo

• Last week the book Amplified was published by Melville House. It is a collection of short stories by songwriters like Rhett Miller (Old97s), Robbie Fulks, Jon Langford, Rennie Sparks (Handsome Family), Jim White and more. Here's a video of Ben Weaver reading his story "Humanesque"

• Firewater is currently tearing it up in Europe. Here are some photos from a Dutch festival they played on May 5th. I would translate all the text on that site for you, but I hate to show off..

• As you may have heard, Jack White (White Stripes) recorded a single with Dex Romweber and we'll have it for sale in early June. There's all sorts of news out there on it already, but I thought I'd cite one article from Jack's (and mine) hometown of Detroit--we need some good news out of there

• Our punk-history-loving intern Kentaro was enthralled with Bloodshot Rob's collection of old flyers and set about to immortalize them in Ones and Zeroes. If you'd like to see what he was up to in the early 80's instead of preparing himself for a normal life and a normal career go here.

• Rob's Recommendation of the Week: Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to catch Robbie Fulks' show at the Old Town School with Danny Barnes, Nora O'Connor and more supporting his new digital only release, the 50 song 50-Vc. Doberman. It was truly a wonderful show and the songs were just breath taking. Do yourself a favor and go to his site and check them out. Buy 'em a la carte, or get the whole massive batch. You can sample songs and read his liner notes, which are worth a visit on their own. It is truly a sad commentary on our culture that Robbie is not treasured and that Jessica Simpson is.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend!

Robbie's song "Goodbye, Goodlookin'" from South Mouth was featured on episode 1 of the hipster vampire series True Blood on HBO.  Go here to listen and learn more.

The typically Fulk-nerian genius is brought to bear in his performance of "Dirty Mouthed Flo" that can be found on the new DVD Bloodied But Unbowed. This DVD features 31 videos and live performances from the likes of Ryan Adams, Bobby Bare Jr, Deadstring Brothers, Detroit Cobras, Alejandro Escovedo, Old 97s, and the Waco Brothers, 8 short films with appearances and performances by Split Lip Rayfield, Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, The Meat Purveyors and others, plus a photo and poster gallery .

Also, this track is available exclusively as a download on the digital only "soundtrack" to the DVD.