A couple of days ago Frog Eyes frontman/Swan Lake member Carey Mercer sent us a link to an article in the Edmonton Journal that discussed a clause in the contracts signed by performers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics that barred them from speaking negatively about the Games or the Olympic organizing committee. Since this gag order impacts a number of musicians, and Carey is a Vancouver-based musician who didn’t sign the dialogue-crushing contract, we asked him to write a guest blog about the situation.

“The artist shall at all times refrain from making any negative or derogatory remarks respecting VANOC (the organizing committee), the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic movement generally, Bell and/or other sponsors associated with VANOC.”

VANOC is the Vancouver Olympic Committee. No one, including our courts, can figure out if it is a public or private entity. It seems to be public when it needs tax dollars (6 billion), but private whenever it is challenged: challenged by the usual alliance of Beat-niks; Peace-niks; Alternative Media Types; First Nations (particularly pissed on by the Olympic Experience), and any other social group that questions the use of 6 billion tax dollars to build Bob-Sledding tracks, etc., instead of focusing these resources on more pressing social issues. For example: Vancouver has the most condensed area of homelessness and addiction in Canada (hear: any Vancouver musician’s ubiquitous and repetitive references to Hastings Street/”Downtown East Side”).

But this is a music blog, right? So why am I blathering on about bob-sledding and homeless dudes, and not telling you about Vampire Weekend’s apartment?

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Which makes sense since the man that’s missing is the one at 25% his former glory (generous!). This went down last night at the Seattle stop of Tom Morello’s Justice Tour, which in the midst of evoking anger and justice for the price of a concert ticket, last night featuring Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, Steve Earle, MC5′s Wayne Kramer, and of course, this post’s title. Tickets were only $15, which Tom reminds the crowd just after he was joined by TAD’s Tad Doyle and OG Soundgarden crew Ben Shepherd, Matt Cameron, and a sweetly shorn Kim Thayil on “Nothing To Say,” “Spoonman,” and “Hunted Down.” Obviously Tad didn’t try to replicate Cornell’s god-like vocals, instead plowing through the part where the words would be with shredded screeches and singed screams. And you know, taking that sort of sledgehammer to the tune and mutilating/mutating it vocally seems poetic in light of Cornell’s sad metamorphosis. Watching how shitkickingly, precisely sludgy the band still sounds will make you sigh a little louder about the prospects for a vital reunion, but enough of that: Call it TADGarden, or TADioslavegarden, or whatever, but here is 3/4 of Soundgarden with Tom Morello and Tad Doyle making you wish you were at the Crocodile Cafe last night:

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While we were sweating it out in Grant Park for Lollapalooza this past weekend, friend of the ‘Gum and occasional photo contributor Jon Bahr was toughing it out up in Newport, Rhode Island for this year’s installment of the annual folk festival. Well, maybe not toughing it out, exactly. Jon describes the scene:

The setting of the Newport Folk Fest couldn’t be more picturesque and nearly every artist who played couldn’t help but mention the scenery. The 8,000 attendees take over the Fort Adams State Park, whose centerpiece is the Fort was built in 1799 and is the largest coastal fortification in the United States. Surrounding that is the stunning view of the massive Newport Bridge (picture the Verrazano bridge) and hundreds upon hundreds of boats filling the coast, anchored watching the stage/screens, and listening to the music perfectly with a “Boat Drink” in hand.

Anchoring the waterfront scene, of course, was a broad sampling of “folk” with everyone from Steve Earle to Gillian Welch, Trey Anastasio to She & Him. Looks like NPR’s archiving the fest, so if you’re in the mood for streaming, head here for full sets from She & Him, Gillian Welch, and Jim James with more to come — and while you listen, enjoy the spread courtesy of Mr. Bahr.

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We applauded David Simon’s decision to cast Steve Earle as Bubbles’ grizzled-but-loving sponsor, Waylon, because Steve’s own experiences with substance abuse lent his performance an inimitable air of authenticity. And maybe also a little bit because having a great musician on the show further enabled our deep stretches to post about The Wire as frequently as possible. (Thanks for playing along guys, and yes we were impressed with all those picking up on the Templeton references the other day.) One of those posts was a first listen/look at Season Five’s intro music, which finally had Steve take a turn on the show’s theme song, Tom Waits’s “Way Down In The Hole.” Last night he brought it to Leno.

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Kanye’s Connect Four thrashing was our excuse to bring up The Wire yesterday. Today’s excuse: Tom Waits and Steve Earle. Show obsessives (there are no casual fans, here) know that Steve plays recurring character Waylon, the former addict who’s taken a shine to (now-clean!) Bubbles, but Earle ups his involvement for the urban drama’s final season by covering the Tom Waits-penned theme song “Way Down In The Hole” (prior seasons saw renditions from The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Tom himself, The Neville Brothers, and Baltimore teen group DoMaJe).

Of course, you already knew Steve was doing the final season’s theme music because you regularly read the New Yorker and saw last June’s Earle profile (right?), but thanks to the show’s OnDemand premiere in advance of Sunday, now there’s YouTube of the Steve soundtracked opening montage.

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