The "dog days" of summer are approaching...

...but in the meantime, EVERY day is a dog day at Decatur CD. Indeed, in case you didn't already know, we encourage you to bring your fuzzy little freaks in here. Frankly, we enjoy them. And, since we've already proven our track record at documenting cute things that have anything vaguely to do with DCD, there is a chance your pup will even make it onto the blog.

On that note, meet the most adorable dog we've ever seen in our lives. Seriously, our faces just exploded looking at the little thing again. He belongs to Richard Parsons, his name is Elvis and Warren fell in love with him recently. Austin thinks he looks like a "blue-eyed gremlin," but he swears he meant that as a compliment. At any rate, enjoy the photos and bring your furry best friend by the store soon.

New. Release. Tuesday.

Actress Scarlett Johansson's debut album of Tom Waits covers (see above) comes out tomorrow, and it's playing right now as we hunt 'n' peck our way through this new release post. What an interesting album, too. Produced by David Sitek of TV on the Radio (Who, on a parenthetical aside, isn't just the member of that awesome band. He's also produced Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Celebration, Foals, Liars, Massive Attack and others.), Anywhere I Lay My Head finds the young Johansson covering many Waits classics ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up," "Who are You" and the title track, for starters) and adding one original to the mix.

Meanwhile, there are all sorts of other new albums coming out tomorrow that weren't made by Hollywood starlets. Indie darlings, grizzled rock vets, jazz musicians, hip-hop mainstays...the list is awfully diverse this week. We encourage you to take a perusal of it below, and stop by at your convenience. We won't take up more of your time rambling here, but will happily chat to you further about new stuff then:

Scarlett Johansson (Tom Waits covers album featuring David Bowie and members of TV on the Radio)
Mates of State
Islands
Mudhoney (new record)
Mudhoney (Superfuzz re-release)
The Wedding Present
Foxboro Hottubs (Green Day under another name)
Abigail Washburn
Indiana Jones (soundtrack)
Dresden Dolls
Madmo (Norah Jones side project)
French Kicks
Pat Metheny (live EP)
Bun B
Ralph's World (children)
James Carter
K-Rino
Donna Summer
David Sanchez
John Digweed
Jesse McCartney
Avishai Cohen
3 Doors Down
...and more!

Have a seat in our (outdoor) living room.

On a lovely Saturday like the one we're experiencing today, our newly furnished front yard sure does come in handy. So, in honor of the nice weather, we thought a quick blog post was in order. You may recognize the above chair and lamp as former denizens of inside the store, but what can we say? There just isn't enough room in Ye Olde Decatur CD for them anymore. Outside they will stay, then, and we hope you enjoy them. Stop by sometime, pick up some music, make your contribution to The Decatur CD Art Project and then relax for a moment in our outdoor living room before going on your merry way. Just another way we're working toward becoming your full-service music/culture/community center...

Decatur CD's newest, smallest customer!

On our MySpace page, we have a photo of Decatur CD's Former Smallest Customer. Well, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome into this world a new champion. Her name is Josie, and she's the brand-new baby daughter of Floating Coat Jim and his lovely wife Susan. Congratulations, you two! We look forward to Josie getting older and acquiring the ability to tell us we're listening to all the wrong music.

And now, for good measure, just because she's so darn cute, we'll post one more photo. We like to call this one "Josie Rides a Rollercoaster in Her Dreams While Daddy Sleeps":

Get your rockabilly on.

Above: The Reverend Horton Heat

Our new friend Tyler sent us a MySpace message tonight to let us know he'll be playing some rockabilly this week and the next on WRAS Album 88. Have a look at the shifts he'll be handling over the next several days and tune in if you can:

Tonight (Thurs., May 15): Midnight-2am
Sunday, May 18th: 2pm-4pm
Thursday, May 22nd: Midnight-2am

Now, we could go on about what great music Tyler enjoys and how his shows we'll definitely be worth your time if you're into rockabilly/psychobilly/vintage country and the like, but maybe an endorsement from our not-so-new friend, The Right Reverend Andy, will convince you. See, although The Rev has sadly stepped down from his post as the Benevolent King of Psychobilly Freakout in order to pursue other things such as live-music promotion, a cable access television show and a podcast, our boy Tyler will take his place in due time.

So there you have it, folks. Tune in to these early shows to glimpse into the future of Psychobilly Freakout! And when you're loving it, remember that Decatur CD sent you.

Save the Date(s): our first book events!

Just a quick heads-up to let all you in-store-event-lovers out there know that you need to mark your calendars. May 31 and June 20 are the dates of note, and here's why, straight from the latest Decatur CD Newsletter:

"Saturday, May 31st at 7pm: Nashville music publisher Robert Hicks will be here to read from and discuss his anthology, A Guitar and a Pen: Stories by Country Music's Greatest Songwriters. The latest from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South is a collection of stories detailing the songwriting process of some of the music world's finest, including Charlie Daniels, Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Robbie Fulks and many more.

Friday, June 20th at 7pm: Ellis Nassour will be here to read from and chat about his new book, Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline. Nassour was selected as a Time magazine 2006 person of the year, and assisted in the career development of The Who, Bill Cosby, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Loretta Lynn and many more.

Now, we're going to work out some unique musical and drinkable surprises for those evenings, so stay tuned. More coming soon..."

New. Release. Tuesday.

Throw your hands in the air for mid-May, y'all! Wave 'em around like you just don't care, y'all! All right, you caught us; we're kind of stretching for a reason to celebrate. But the above photo of the latest addition to our 5X5 album cover wall does not lie: Tomorrow is Death Cab for Cutie day! That's right, the band's latest, Narrow Stairs, will be on our shelves first thing on Tuesday. For many, that's a holiday in itself, right? Be the first on your block to get totally immersed in Ben Gibbard and Co. Woo hoo. But wait, there's more:

Death Cab for Cutie
Old 97's
T Bone Burnett
Bill Frisell
The Black Angels
Duffy
Jools Holland
Ween
Filter
Jason Mraz
Dosh
Simone
...and more!

Decatur CD featured on Not For Tourists!

We received an e-mail the other day from the Not For Tourists people to alert us that we were featured on the site recently. Naturally, we're going to point you to it now, and not just because they call this website you're looking at right now an "excellent blog." All in all, it's quite a glowing write-up, and you can read it right here. If you look closely at the accompanying photo, you can spot Warren and Austin both hard at work. Fun stuff.

While we're on the topic, you should check out another great online city guide called Yelp. By and large, the users on Yelp are pretty experienced and know how to put their opinions into thoughtful words. And hey, if you feel like saying something nice about Decatur CD while you're there, well, don't let us stop you. Our page is located right here.

Thanks for anyone who's taken the time to written about us anywhere online. It means a lot, especially in today's world where many people prefer to research a business on the Internet before actually walking into it. We appreciate your words, and we'll do our best to continue living up to them.

Tom Waits is coming back to the ATL

Hey, did you hear? Tom Waits is coming back to Atlanta! On July 5th! Click the above YouTube clip to watch the amazing press conference he held the other day.

New. Release. Tuesday.

This week gives us fresh/solid releases from a couple veterans (one of these gentlemen is pictured above), a couple newer/weirder bands (the excellent No Age, for example) and a whole bunch of others. Very good things to be had. Have a look at the full list and stop by at your leisure:

Neil Diamond
Elvis Costello (now on CD!)
No Age
Animal Collective (EP)
Four Tet
Scott Hamilton & Friends
Barenaked Ladies (kids)
Jeb Loy Nichols
Michael Franti & Spearhead (live + DVD)
Tim Fite
Midnight Oil
Speed Racer (score)
Mindi Abair
The Long Blondes
16 Horsepower (live)
Matmos
Dierks Bentley (best)
Clay Aiken
Toby Keith (best)
Josh Groban (live)
Gavin Degraw
...and more!

LPs:
The Magnetic Fields (reissue)
Spoon (reissues)

Caroline Herring photos

Hot off the presses! Caroline just finished up her set here, and it was wonderful. She played some great songs and made some awfully sweet (and true) comments about indie retail. Our sincere thanks go out to Caroline and all the people who showed up. Enjoy the photos...

Decatur CD's Upcoming Show Guide - May

Above: Don't miss these crazy guys with Yeasayer at Lenny's on Saturday

Now, hold on just a second. Where did April go? There was Record Store Day, of course, but we hardly remember the rest of the month. It's all a blur! We certainly don't remember our monthly show guide here on Ye Olde DCD Blog, but perhaps that's because we didn't write it. Perhaps.

At any rate, May is upon us suddenly like some ferocious, unstoppable spring creature of doom (almost as unstoppable as this sentence), crawling and growling and, oh yeah, dropping a hot, steamy load of excellent shows right there at our feet. Ewww. Wait, yay! That's what we mean. Boy, this is getting out of hand. On with the shows:

TONIGHT: American Music Club/Warm in the Wake/No River City @ The EARL
May 1-10: 500 Songs for Kids @ Smith's Olde Bar
May 2: Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State @ Eddie's Attic
May 2: Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause @ The EARL
May 2: Cracker @ Variety Playhouse
May 3: Caroline Herring @ Decatur CD (1pm, free, all ages!)
May 3: Caroline Herring @ Eddie's Attic
May 3: Man Man/Yeasayer @ Lenny's
May 4: Tommy Womack/Ken Will Morton @ Eddie's Attic
May 6: Langhorne Slim/Amy LaVere @ The EARL
May 6: Brett Dennen/Mason Jennings/Missy Higgins @ Variety Playhouse
May 8: Alton Brown @ Variety Playhouse (sponsored by A Cappella)
May 9: The Moaners @ Lenny's
May 9: Darrell Scott @ Eddie's Attic (two shows)
May 13: DeVotchKa/Basia Bulat @ Variety Playhouse
May 14: Ladyhawk @ The Drunken Unicorn
May 15: Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses) @ The EARL
May 15: The Coathangers @ The Drunken Unicorn
May 16: Carbonas @ The Drunken Unicorn
May 18: Laura Veirs/Liam Finn @ The EARL
May 22: Abigail Washburn @ Variety Playhouse
May 23: Charlie Louvin @ Eddie's Attic
May 23: Be Your Own Pet @ Variety Playhouse
May 25: Clinic/BBQ @ The EARL
May 25: Thee Silver Mt. Zion/Vic Chesnutt @ The Drunken Unicorn
May 26: The Sword/Torche/Stinking Lizaveta @ Lenny's
May 28: The Kills @ The EARL
May 29: X @ Variety Playhouse
May 30: Josh Joplin @ Eddie's Attic
May 30: Guy Clark @ Variety Playhouse (early show)
May 30: North Mississippi Allstars @ Variety Playhouse (late show)
May 31: Michelle Malone @ Eddie's Attic
May 31: Over the Rhine/Mary Gauthier @ Variety Playhouse
May 31: Lord T & Eloise @ Smith's Olde Bar