LA Weekly

He talked about his song "If Jesus Drove a Motor Home" and how he really thought it was going to bring peace to the world, but to no avail. Well, he said, if Lennon couldn't do it with "Imagine"...

Turquoise House

Maybe it's the light turnout. Despite some longtime championing by KCRW, the store only has 100 or so people turned out to watch him, mostly older white guys.

And it raises a question: How's a guy like Jim White get known to people who would probably dig his records, if they only knew about him? The implosion of the music industry has hurt labels more than artists, but it probably hasn't done guys like White many favors either. Marketing dollars dry up, and the selection of CDs at Starbucks isn't exactly deep.

No Depression magazine was an excellent place to read about musicians like Jim White, guys who weren't going to get added to enough radio playlists to seep into the minds of many Americans. But No Depression's gone now. So is Harp. Mojo seems content to just write about the Stones and Led Zepplin from now until the end of time.

It's one reason why I like to come to Amoeba to see live music. Instead of standing in a dark club with a beer getting warmer in my hand, I can flip through old albums and find something that maybe I didn't know about before, or had only read about in a music magazine. But the record stores keep closing, and the magazines keep folding, and I wonder if MySpace can really take up the slack.

I don't want to read too much into White's choice of venue for his show tonight. Instead of the Troubadour or even Largo where I first saw him play ten years ago, he's playing at a theater which shows movies that are about 80 years old; relics. Jim White and his music aren't relics. His songs will sound great in there, but I wish he was playing some place a little more, what's the word.... relevant?

You can listen to Jim White's new record, Transnormal Skiperoo online here. You'll probably like it.