Billboard is reporting Axl Rose’s “Chinese Democracy” record will be released Nov. 23 and will be sold exclusively at Best Buy.

This of course begs the question of whether everyone in the country will get a free Dr. Pepper as promised by the folks at Dr. Pepper.

I’ve heard some of the leaked material and back in 2002 I saw some new songs performed live at the Tacoma Dome (it was one of the most awesome concert experiences of my life) and I’ll say that if what I’ve heard is “Chinese Democracy” then I’m not that impressed. The material isn’t all that bad, but it really isn’t exceptionally good.

My prediction is that Pitchfork will give the record a snarky 4.2 rating and Rolling Stone will rate it at a 3.5 and call it Axl’s way of attempting to forge new ground musically while staying to the Gus N Roses formula that he’s been successful with in the past.

I’ll also go out on a limb and say the record will sell a whole bunch of copies, especially since it is being sold at Best Buy around Thanksgiving time and that the tour behind the record will flop because fans will realize the record isn’t all that good.

*Update: The video has been replaced with one that works. Watch it while you can because YouTube yanked the video I posted earlier and I assume they will eventually yank this one too.

“Saturday Night Live” was actually sort of funny last week.

In honor of SNL making me laugh for the first time all season, I thought I would share this short skit poking fun at girl-kissing Katy Perry. I guess she’ll probably never be one of the show’s musical guests.

As the commercial says: “Just when you thought Katy Perry couldn’t get any naughtier, she didn’t.” Click the jump for photos of Perry at the Gorge during Warped Tour.

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I took a bunch of pictures at REVERBfest Saturday and here are a few of my favorites. The second part of this gallery will come when my blogtographer Steven Friederich finishes putting the finishing touches on the shots he took throughout the day.

You can see all of the pictures I took during REVERBfest by clicking here. You can also see more samples of my rock photography skills, including pics of Bumbershoot, Sasquatch! Radiodiohead and other awesome events from earlier this year, over on my Flickr page.

Sometimes I like to imagine what it would be like if people other than John McCain and Barak Obama were running for president. For example, wouldn’t it be funny if Chris Rock were the a presidential nominee (Wait, wasn’t that a movie already?) or if McCain chose a Tina Fey doppelganger for a running mate (Wait, didn’t he already do that?).

Well, if Tad Doyle, former singer of grunge heavyweights TAD and current frontman for three-piece outfit Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, were running for president I am sure his motto would be to speak softly and carry a big ax. And he definitely carries a big ax, in a metaphorical sense that is.

You see Doyle is a pretty imposing man with a rather large frame. Seeing him on stage pounding out heavy, sonically dense riffs while belting out ferocious screams is quite a spectacle of rock. Because of his large frame, when he straps on a guitar it looks like he’s playing a tiny Guitar Hero controller, not an instrument of musical destruction. But the music he makes with Brothers of the Sonic Cloth is quite far from anything tiny.

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth’s set at the Sunset during REVERBfest started off with about 30 seconds of a loud rumble, a sound so deep and loud its heaviness was nearly palpable. That growing rumble set the stage for a 30 minutes of nothing but psychedelic, ear-blasting goodness.

While TAD has been inactive for quite some while it was clear Doyle hasn’t forgotten how to rock. At the beginning of the set he played his seemingly small ax against a stack of amplifers and stepped on effect pedal after effect pedal, creating layers of massive riffs while turning the Sunset into one big wall of sound. I don’t recall any real vocals in any of the songs, but there were several guttural screams that were unmistakably Doyle’s.

Although I didn’t get to sample all of the 64 bands at REVEBfest, I feel confident in declaring Brothers of the Sonic Colth’s set of the heaviest of the day. Actually, having seen TAD in the mid-90s, I might even go so far as to say Brother of the Sonic Cloth is heavier than anything Doyle created during TAD’s heyday. Nah, that’s not possible, so I’ll retract that remark.

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Typically the quirky little nook of the Northwest known as Fremont is the “center of the universe.” However, for one day, the booming, borderline upscale hood of Ballard — with all of its bars, condos and construction sites — stole that title away from the land known for parades of naked bicyclists and an abundance of hippies.

The occasion was Seattle Weekly’s annual REVERBfest on Saturday, a music festival featuring 64 local bands spread out across stages that popped up in a tea house, local shops and of course, bars. Named after the Weekly’s music blog, the main thing distinguishing REVERBfest from its summer counterparts that take place within city limits (the Stranger-sponsored Capital Hill Block Party, the mammoth of a local institution known as Bumbershoot and the burgeoning Georgetown Music Festival) is its exclusive focus on local music.

Reverb’s booker, Kwab Copeland (former booker of The High Dive and Sunset), selected 64 of the brightest local acts to rock Ballard, making the lineup feel like a musical melting pot of what’s currently simmering in Seattle’s music scene. There was hip hop (Greyskull, Canary Sing, Kublaki), punk (Police Teeth, The Valkyries), singer-songwriter folk (Husbands, Love Your Wives), hard rock (Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Emeralds), indie pop (Panda & Angel, BOAT, Aqueduct), electro-pop (Truckasaurus, Man Plus) and even some reunited local post-grunge (Sage). Just about every genre of music being made in Seattle today was represented at REVERBfest 2008. And with so much quality music happening at so many different venues in one of the hippest neighborhoods in Seattle, it was impossible to not find something to enjoy.

In a city where there is a well-known crop of locals already making major splashes on the national scene (Death Cab, Modest Mouse, Fleet Foxes), REVERBfest 2008 was a real reflection of the current scene. None of the acts were too big (I don’t think any of them could sell out the Showbox) and there wasn’t a well-known local headliner (think Mudhoney, The Melvins, etc.) attached to the bill just to sell tickets. In fact, a lot of the acts at REVERBfest (North Twin, The Quilt, See Me River) were smaller bands looking to make their first big splash on an eager festival-going crowd, and many made favorable impressions.

I’m sure the lack of a larger band contributed to the cheap ticket prices (Tickets $8 in advance, $10 day of show), but the low ticket cost combined with the smorgasbord of local talent were part of what made REVERBfest 2008 the best representation of what Seattle’s music scene has to offer.

Last year’s Reverb was equally as fun, but it was also the event’s inaugural run and you could tell a few of the kinks were being worked out (For example, there used to be an outdoor stage, something I’m sure organizers learned might not be such a good idea considering REVERBfest takes place in October, a month where rain begins to fall regularly in Seattle). This year’s event felt like REVERBfest’s coming out party where everything seemed a little more well organized. Bands were more concise with their sets, bartenders were smiling, local businesses that weren’t hosting music were participating by offering discounts of REVERBfest patrons, and there was a VIP area for cripes sake.

Looking back on the year in local music to date, REVERBfest 2008 was definitely one of those diamonds in the rough and could have been easily overlooked. But for those who attended (including yours truly) this year’s installment of REVERBfest stood out as a memorable bright spot in a year filled with radio festivals, national events such as SP 20, Sasquatch! and the aforementioned three fests that actually take place in Seattle.

Hopefully as the years pass and the festival continues to grow, REVERBfest doesn’t start to take itself too seriously and lose its intimate atmosphere and forget its seemingly organic roots. It would be a near unforgivable act if organizers made REVERBfest something too big for the scene that more or less created it. But something tells me that as long as there is a thriving music scene in Seattle to sustain a seemingly grassroots event like REVERBfest, local musicians — who really are the heart and soul of the festival — will keep REVERBfest in check and make sure it stays true to its roots.

Simply put, given its location and lineup, REVERBfest 2008 felt more like a musical pub crawl soundtracked by some of the city’s finest talent, than it did drudging a daylong music festival. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

Some bad luck earlier today almost made me cancel my plans to attend Saturday’s REVERBfest.

Something screwy with my car’s electrical system means I’ll be missing out on the first three hours of the festival because I’ll be taking an Amtrack bus from Wenatchee to Seattle instead of driving my comfortable Nissan Maxima. But it will take more than lame car troubles to keep me away from Seattle’s only all-local music festival. So here is my schedule (which starts at 6:30 since I’ll be rolling into Ballard around 6ish):

6:30 Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
Tad Doyle’s new band is supposed to be as psychedelic as his former band, TAD, was heavy. If this is true this set will definitely make me forget about my vehicle woes.

7:00 Black Whales
I saw the last five minutes of these guys’ set at CHBP and I really liked what I saw. I am excited to see a full set.

7:30 Man Plus
Bright, shiny indie pop is always good to smile and drink beer to.

8:00 BOAT
Believe it or not I have never seen this popular, much-hyped band live. I’m curious to see what all the fuss is about.

8:30 See Me River
Excellent local Americana should make for some great drinking music.

9:00 Undecided
It’s either the beautiful sounds of Mono In VCF or the crazy electronic sounds of Truckasaurus. Who would you rather see?

9:30 Team Gina
This rapping lesbian duo is the most unique act in the local hip hop scene. Clever rhymes, awesome beats, positive messages, hilarious humor and a plethora of pop culture references will be aplenty during their set.

11:00 Diminished Men
More psychedelic rock, if I can handle it of course.

11:30 Grayskull
One of the most underrated acts in the local hip-hop scene will likely deliver one of the better sets of the day.

12:00 Dragstrip Riot
Good old fashioned loud, dirty rock ‘n’ roll. ‘Nuff said.

12:30 SHIM
Hopefully the best band I saw at Bumbershoot will be the best band I see at REVERBfest

Here is the second half of guest blogger (and my occasional +1 at shows) Brent Stecker’s review of our weekend that included an amazing My Morning Jacket show and a solid effort by Cold War Kids the next night. You can read the first part of his review (which covers the MMJ show) by clicking here.

Post show, T-$ (ed. note: in case you didn’t read part 1, T-money is Brent’s oddball nickname for me) took me to Beth’s, a “Seattle institution,” where I enjoyed some fantastic breakfast food and indulged in the $6 Milkshake (ingredients: chocolate, peanut butter, brownies, and the diabeetus). Oh yeah, I got my peanut-butter pudding surprise all right.

The next day, we had plenty of time to kill before Cold War Kids, so Travis and I invented a game where we made up lyrics like we were Craig Finn, lead singer of The Hold Steady. If you’ve never heard The Hold Steady, here’s a crash course on Craig Finn’s style: his lyrics tell outlandish stories about barflies and such, and he mostly yell-talks in a raspy monotone. Here’s some typical Finn lines: “She was a damn good dancer but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend”; “They ended up on Washington talking to the river”; and “Big heads with soft bodies make for lousy lovers.”

With the help of Dollar-Dollar’s friend Brian, we came up with some good ones, including “That’s how we found out kangaroos make for lousy housepets.” Just so you know, the joke will never get old.

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Earlier this week my buddy Brent Stecker and I trekked over the hill (that’s Eastern Washington lingo for driving over the mountain passes to go to Seattle) to catch a few shows.

Sunday night we saw My Morning Jacket at McCaw Hall (one word: awesome) and Monday we caught the Cold War Kids twice, once at their Easy Street Records in-store set and later that night at the Showbox.

I’d love to tell you all about both shows, but since Brent did such a good job summing up our weekend adventure on his MySpace blog I decided it would be better to let him recount our musical escapades.

Also, Brent recently started a promising blog about guitars and guitarists called Tiny Strings (the link to the blog will be coming soon, I promise), so I figured this post would act as his indoctrination into the blogosphere.

So here is guest blogger Brent Stecker’s review of the first of two excellent shows that went down recently, taken from his MySpace blog (emphasis added).

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I’ve only dropped 105 posts here in three months, but over on my other blog I just penned (can you pen something on a keyboard?) my 1,000th post. It has to do with a German artist who plans on smoking a joint made of Kurt Cobain’s ashes and hash.

Read it here.

Seattle Weekly’s REVERBfest is happening Saturday in Ballard. Eight dollars gets you access to 64 of Seattle’s brightest up-and-coming bands.

To mark REVERBfest Seattle Weekly’s Reverb blog has offered up downloads from every band that is playing its self-titled festival. The best part about this batch of tracks is that it is FREE. It includes downloads from See Me River, Husbands Love Your Wives, BOAT, Mono In VCF and all the other local bands set to party in Ballard this weekend. You can access the download here.

Buy your wristband for REVERBfest here. I recommend picking it up prior to Saturday because the day of REVERBfest the wristbands are $10, not the $8 they are now.

Last year’s REVERBfest was a smashing success and I expect more of the same this year. Having local musicians take over downtown Ballard made the event feel like a daylong musical pub crawl. Ms. Led, Grynch, Awesome!, The Whore Moans and a small little band called Fleet Foxes were some of the highlights from last year. This year Team Gina, SHIM, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and the Moondoggies are some of the groups providing the soundtrack to a day of amazing Northwest music.

On a side note, did you know I have been spelling REVERBfest wrong? Apparently, the proper spelling is REVERBfest, not ReverbFEST. That’s what happens when organizations insist on silly capitalizations and spellings of things, they tend to get misspelled, or at least miscapitalized.

Check back tomorrow for my tentative REVERBfest schedule and come back early netx week for coverage, which should include a photo gallery and wrap up of what should be a rocking Saturday in Ballard.