The Age of Enlightenment. Also, Death Cows.

We've received a lot of interesting feedback on last week's interview with current Gogol Bordello front man and BTV ex-pat Eugene Hutz. Reader responses have run the gamut from "Hey, nice interview!" to "Hey, Eugene wasn't in Wristcutters. Check your facts, idiot!" Good times. (And no, no he wasn't. My goof. Sorry.)

But the most interesting response to that piece comes by way of Trevor Ayer of the Beautiful Ride. Back in the day, Ayer fronted a band called the Death Cows. One of his songs, "Oh Hey, I'm So Enlightened Now" was featured on a totally awesome and long out-of-print compilation called Burlington Does Burlington. If you're unfamiliar, the gist of the comp was a slew of great 1990s era local bands covered each others songs. For example, The Pants did a swimmingly fun version of Phish's "Golgi Apparatus," Belizbeha funked up The Pants' "High Watermark," Barbacoa soaked Envy's "Bloodboy" into a reverb-washed surf-noir gem. Man, I really wish I still had a copy of that …

Anyway, back to Ayer. That comp also featured a very young Eugene Hutz covering Ayer's song with the late, great BTV punk band the Fags. Here 'tis, complete with some pretty awesome old pics. Enjoy! (BTW, if you're interested in checking out more of Ayer's tunes, the link above is basically an archive of everything the dude has ever done. Cool stuff.)

Like Wikipedia Brown

Aaaand we're back!

Sorry for the supreme lack of postings last week, Solid State. I was away on vacation. And the week before that? Gearing up to go away on vacation, of course. Sweet, sweet vacation. Sigh …

Where was I? Oh right, vacation.

While on vacation, a good friend introduced me to a Brooklyn-based hip-hop trio called Das Racist and their new mixtape Shut Up, Dude, which you can download for free here. In short, it is pretty much my favorite thing since, well, at least before I went on vacation. It's brutally funny and viciously smart. And despite the inclination of certain critics to dismiss DR as little more than a novelty, it's genuinely good music to boot.

To illustrate my point, here's their latest video for "Rainbow in the Dark." Enjoy.

VT Union is … D-d-d-d-dead?

'Fraid so.

Battery Power

Just passing this along since it came in too late for the print edition. Our old pals Guides for the Future will take part in a free mini-festival this Wednesday evening at Battery Park called the Vermont Roots Rock Revival. (From 6pm to 9pm, according to the snazzy poster.) The lineup also includes the Prohibition Blues Band, Freight, Y'ardy Yar and Greta Frost. In the meantime, check out this GOF video/slide show for their rousing song, "Chaos Kids."

APB: A Thieving Douchebag

I've just received word that Michael Tonn, guitarist for The Toes, Sons of Dawn and Trainwreck Kelly, was recently the victim of a burglary. According to an email sent by Tonn's roommate, Dan Fancher, their North Avenue house was broken into at some point between July 4 and July 6. The thieves got away with two of Tonn's guitars. Here are Fancher's descriptions of the instruments:

One is the electric that Michael usually plays with The Toes (pictured):

Baby blue Fender Jag-stang, mismatched knobs, mother-of-pearl-look inlay, orange circular sticker below the bridge.

The other is the guitar Michael has written most of his songs on over the past decade:

Seagull acoustic steel string, cedar top. Identifiable by plain headstock with no decoration. Seagull guitars usually have a seagull on the headstock; this one has been replaced 3 times and is plain wood now.

Now, if I were to break into someone's home and steal instruments, I might aim for less distinctive pieces. But then, maybe that's why I'm not a crook. Well that, and, generally speaking, I'm not a total asshole. But I digress.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Burlington police, or Michael Tonn directly. He can be reached at 363-4962.

Lightning Crashes … Twice

You didn't hear this from me, but a little birdie told me that Ed Kowalczyk, the former lead singer of Live, will play a secret show at 2 p.m. today at Halvorson's on Church Street. Kowalczyk is playing a sold out gig tonight at Higher Ground. And for those of you younger than 25, if you don't know who Live was, picture a grungier, artsier(ish) version of Daughtry. Gawd, I feel old.

Anyhoo, since I'm also feeling a little nostalgic today, here's Live's "I Alone." And yes, I realize given the title of this post, you probably were expecting "Lightning Crashes." But I hate that song. Also, lightning "flashes." Thunder crashes. That's bugged me for years …