Garth, Thom and Lou

If you aren't one of the 4 million people going to see Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge, we offer you our congratulations as well as a recommendation to see the newly reunited Dinosaur Jr. at the Showbox. Yes, we know we blogged about it before, but it's Dinosaur Jr.

If you are feeling more digitally inclined, you might be interested in checking out the new Radiohead blog. It's full of cryptic posts and nighttime photographs which really allow you to marvel at the shortness of Thom Yorke. Now that they are playing with some type of blogging software, we hope their new album does not make a single mention of comments, trackbacks or blogrolls.

On the depressing news side, country megastar Garth Brooks signed an exclusive deal with Wal-mart ensuring the mega-retailer (double 'mega' word score!) will soon be the only place to buy his catalog. While that might not seem to be a big deal to you, it is part of a growing trend where big stars are forming exclusive relationships with select retailers. This is bad because these artists move a lot of product and are one of the main factors that drive the average music consumer to record stores.