If you haven’t hit 500 Songs for Kids yet, you’ve only got 5 nights left.  You don’t want to miss it. 500 Songs is the ultimate cover song event.  

There is an art to the cover song and the best renditions are often by those artists with the inspiration to make the song their own. Rebecca Loebe is one such artist. She will be playing the event tonight and we don’t know what song she’ll be doing, but we’re pretty confident it will be pretty good.  

Rebecca took us by storm with her cover of Kayne West’s blockbuster “Stronger” a couple of years ago and it’s a still a staple of her live act.  Check it out here and check Rebecca out tonight.

Listen: Rebecca Loebe – Stronger (Kanye West Cover)

It’s time again for the 500 Songs for Kids marathon stand at Smith’s Olde Bar.  The event will start April 29th and run through May 8th with 50 different bands taking the stage every night.  It’s all covers so you will know the songs and can sing along. You may discover a new favorite local act along the way. All proceeds all go to the Songs for Kids Foundation.

Last year, we tried to give you a heads up about what was coming each night.  This year we’re going to leave the daily updates and photos to the good folks at Mixtape Atlanta. Follow the event there.

Please take our word for it though, don’t wait until the last night. Plenty of stars and the very best performances all come out before that.  Here are some bands we don’t want to miss.

Dead Confederate - Night 2, April 30

Oryx and Crake – Night 2, April 30

Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun (loved their Smashing Pumpkins last year) – Night 5, May 3

Rebecca Loebe – Night 6, May 4.

South 70 (they killed Led Zep last year, this year it will be Aerosmith) – Night 8, May 6.

Hightide Blues – Night 8, May 6.

Wild Sweet Orange – Night 9, May 7.

Modern Skirts – Night 10, May 8 – Okay, here’s one reason to show up for the last night.  Their cover of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” at last year’s event totally sold us on this band and made us go back to their original output with fresh ears and new found interest.

We don’t have many rules here at Atlanta’s A-List.  If you’ve been reading for a while you figured that out already (but somebody might be new here).  One rule we do have, being the neophyte blog we are, is that anybody who hands us an actual, physical, pressed into vinyl, record (or book for that matter – though the pressed into vinyl part is less important then), we will review it.  We even have a post office box for that very purpose.  Send that stuff to Atlanta’s A-List, P.O. Box 2613, Decatur, Georgia 30031.

You were expecting a review?  Oh yeah.  So when somebody places a record in our hands with the general suggestion that we listen to it and the specific knowledge that we have this little blog habit, we’re gonna follow our one and only real rule and we’re gonna review that sucker.  That’s what we’re about to do…really.

If you haven’t guessed by the header yet (you were really bad at 20 questions in college, we’re you?), somebody from The Seventh Ring of Saturn handed us a vinyl copy of their self-titled 2007 full length.

The first track, “In Time,” is thematically, if not sonically, reminiscent of Jay Mascis’ “Almost Ready”.   Like that tune, it contemplates the pace and discovery of life from the perspective of somebody who may have been around the block more than once – “it’s okay/you may lose yourself/and find yourself in time.”  Pretty compelling stuff for somebody who is turning the last corner on that first block.

Keep in mind, it doesn’t sound like Dinosaur, Jr. at all.  This record was dedicated George Harrison and for good reason.  If the 60s melodies of the first track aren’t enough to make that clear, then the sitar at the opening of track two, “Colonel Green” cinches it.  Of course, the cover of the fairly obscure 1968 Harrison single, “Sour Milk Sea” was a fairly obvious give away too.  In total, the first half of this record is very listenable for somebody who might have 30 year old pressings of Donovan’s Greatest Hits or Vanilla Fudge in their record collection.  Also good if you like the Harrisonesque single from Wilco’s latest – “You Never Know.”

Ted Selke’s vocals on “In Time” and “Sour Milk Sea” are highlights of the record and Messrs Beckner and Bryant fill the front half with some nice guitar work.  Here’s where the record disappoints though (erstwhile submitters take note, we can’t love everything).  While we love gate fold LPs and the art of illustration (it’s most of what hangs on our walls).  We really don’t love the gate fold on this record.  Partially because it doesn’t tell us much about the music, but mostly because it features a distractingly poor illustration.  It’s not the content of the drawing that bothers us, it’s the execution – which is not so good.  It’s an amateurish flourish on a record that performs otherwise on the turntable.

This is all we’ve heard from these guys (well, ‘cept for their 2009 slot at 500 Songs for Kids) but on the whole, we’d be happy to check them out live (or hear what else they’ve put on vinyl).  When we do, we hope they stick to the AOR friendly songs we liked on side one and spend less time with the extended pseudo-psychedelic prog rock we found on the second side of this record.

Figure it out for yourself.  Copies of The Seventh Ring of Saturn are available on vinyl and CD at Circle Sky Records.  You can also check them out live, Saturday afternoon, October 10, at the Candler Park Fall Fest.

I have been calling it the grand finale and in many ways it is. The A-List has been there for only half of this 10 day marathon. We have no idea how the heart and soul behind 500 Songs for Kids, the inimitable Josh Rifkind, has done it every night since Thursday a week ago. Wow.

The cover will be $20. The songs will the most passionate of all time. The bands will be some of the very best Atlanta has to offer. The line at the bottom of the stair traversed the length of Smith’s last night by 10pm. Expect it to be just as long, but much earlier, tonight. Of course, Atlanta’s A-List will be there.

Adam McKnight & Charles Bullock, Arrested Development, Arum Rae, Aslyn Mitchell, Birds And Wire, Christopher Alan Yates, Courtney Jaye, Death On Two Wheels, Doomsayer, G Force, Grand Prize Winners From Last Year, Injected, Janelle Monae, Jaspects, Jesse Dupree, Jessie Baylin, JOI, Kevin Spencer, Leslie, Modern Skirts, Novel, Pat Sallarulo, Sam Thacker, Sanjay Kothari, Sir Will And The Rose Parade, Sonia Leigh, The Bridges, The Lost Boys, The Selmanaires, The Whigs, Three5Human, Tim Anderson, Trances Arc, Vonnegutt, Wild Sweet Orange, Y-O-U

Only 100 songs to go. It’s the grand finale weekend. Lots of great bands. Lots of great people. Get there early, stay late. Donate.

Shawn Mullins, Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, Telegram, Tim Brantley, Vanessa Olivarez, Justin Kerenyi, Amy Lashley, Bambara, Beastliest Boyz, Big Mike Geier And Tongo Hiti, Blues Cat, Brad Cox, Charlene, Cinetrope, County Line Strangers (Formerly Unusual Suspects), D’Maestro, Dinock, Edison Project, Electa Villain, Fishhawk, Galleon!, Herman Put Down The Gun, James Hall, Jennifer Loudermilk, Konobi, Kopy Katz, Kyshona Armstrong And The Guys, Laura Lockie & Charles King, Lectures On The Apocolypse, Left Front Tire, Leftover Tracks, Lustre King, Mark Gaignard, Now We Sleep, Pete Whitfield, Pluto Zook Grey Goo, Rantings Of Eva, Shawn Michael Haney, Siberia, My Sweet, Sunni Stephens, The Beggars’ Guild, The Bradley Cole Smith Band, The Coathangers, The Lord Is My Shotgun, The nat.u.ral and friends, The Sammies, The Seventh Ring Of Saturn, The Sky Schumacher Band, Ultradrive, Xylah

Here are tonight’s bands. No links today but you’re going to want to see Bain Mattox, Mister Fernando, Hightide Blues and, of course, A-Lister Rebecca Loebe. If you haven’t been out yet, you only have three more nights to take in this great experience.

Bain Mattox, Heather Luttrell, Andrew’s Polyphonic Social, Attention System, Brandon Perry, Chinua Hawk, Chris Gray Band, Cindi Hall, Dong Man, Fat Chance, Futureshock, Gareth Asher, Hightide Blues, Idiot Slowdown, It’s Elephant’s, Jeff Schuelke, Jeremy Aggers, Juli Vaughn, Kahle Davis And The Nightwatchmen, Kortney Parman, Krissa Quill, Lefty Williams Band, Lexi Street, Libras, Max Oginsky, Michael Magno, Misfortune500, Mister Fernando, My Friend Ian’s Band, Nathan Beaver And Ryan Rockitt, National Grain, Nicole Chillemi, Not From Here, Pearson Perry, Rachel Jennette, Rebecca Loebe, Sarah Mac Band, Scott Downes, Sealions, Shinebox, Sin Pretty, Spencer Durham, Stacey Leigh Plunkett, Stellate, The Judies, The Sounds That Machines Make, Tonio, Ty Reynolds, Vinson Baker, Wesley Cook