In the Mix

Terrific Austin power-pop band that enjoys shopping for vinyl and who named themselves after the beery Jerry Lee Lewis hit "What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)." They play the Khyber tonight with Wild Sweet Orange. Here's the "Selling Yourself Short" video.

The Silver Jews, that is. The David Berman-led band rock band, out now with the excellent, country-tinged, literate-in-the-best-sense Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, is at the First Unitarian Church tonight, with Israeli heavy rock trio Monotonix opening. Berman and his wife Cassie, who plays bass, are pictured above. Not sure if they're bringing their dog. My interview with Berman from last Friday's Inky is here.

The SJ's music dark, deep and droll country-rock isn't the slightest bit sleepy, but Berman - who's the author of the poetry collection Actual Air, which you can sample here - is expert at writing songs that explore mysteries revealed after one nods off for the evening, like some kind of rock and roll John Keats. On Lookout, it's the superbly spooky love song "My Pillow Is The Threshold." On 2006's Tanglewood Numbers, it's "Sleeping Is The Only Love," a video clip of which is right here.

Sugar Pie DeSanto is one of the Pioneer Award winners at the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's gala at the Kimmel Center tonight. Bonnie Raitt, Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan and Kool & the Gang, among other old school luminaries, will all be on hand. Here's an interview with Sugar Pie, a rather audacious YouTube clip from 2007, and a taste of what she and her cousin Etta James sounded like back in the day "In the Basement."

Noel Gallagher of Oasis got his rib cracked when some dude tackled him on stage in Toronto during "What's The Story, Morning Glory?" on Sunday. Turns out the assaulter wasn't Inquirer movie critic Steven Rea, who's been blogging about the Toronto Film Festival all week, and was probably hobnobbing with Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortenson at the time. Nor was it Thom Yorke of Radiohead, despite Gallagher (that's him, second from right) calling out the art-rocker in the new issue of Details, in which the often impudent songwriter issued these fighting words: "They're middle-class boys worrying about pushing an envelope somewhere, and all that carbon footprint and all that bollocks. ... It's very easy to just say, 'We're going to become difficult now and challenge our audience.' I like my audience. They paid for my swimming pool. I'm not f- challenging anybody."

The video of the Gallagher takedown is below. Note how alleged perpetrator Daniel Sullivan goes after Noel, then sets his sight on younger brother Liam. The Beatlesque band's new Dig Out Your Soul arrives Oct. 7. There's no Philadelphia-area date as of yet.

The Janet Jackson show scheduled for the Wachovia Center on Thursday has been postponed. Jackson was hospitalized on Monday in Montreal for an undisclosed ailment after she became ill during soundcheck for a show that night. She was released from the Royal Victoria Hospital that same night, according to a hospital spokeswoman. No word on when the Rock Witchu tour, with opening act LL Cool J, will be rescheduled.....

We win again. The Phillies made the Mets' lives miserable for the second year running, and Philadelphia also beats out New York in the Springsteen for Obama sweepstakes. In Manhattan, the Boss is playing playing a fund raising event at the Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16, and not only does it cost as much as $10,000 per ticket, it also requires enduring Billy Joel.

On the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday afternoon, Philadelphians get a much better deal. No Billy, just Bruce, playing an acoustic set of as-yet-undetermined length. Plus, it's free, in an event that's timed to Monday's voter registration deadline.

The video below is from the 2004 Vote for Change tour, when Springsteen - who will also play the Super Bowl next year, in what hopefully be a precursor to a 2009 tour with the E Street Band - - was politicking on behalf of a different Democratic candidate. The performance is from the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, the guy singing Pearl Jam's "Better Man" with him is Eddie Vedder.