Photo gallery of selected shots from the Main Stage Acts from PJ20, Night One.

All photos by Kathy Davis/TwoFeetThick.com.

Thanks to Reza in Indonesia, via the Bugs Mailing list, for pointing our eyes to this super sweet video posted by Pearl Jam – a look inside the broadcast homebase of Self Pollution Radio way back in 1995. Here, our fabulous five perform “Corduroy”. Sure whets the appetite for the Cameron Crowe documentary, doesn’t it? Ah the things we’re going to see!

PJ20 Rock!

The official blog of longtime Santa Barbara, California-based surfboard manufacturer Channel Island Surfboards has posted this great video of surfing legend and Eddie Vedder pal Kelly Slater surfing the big waves at Oahu, Hawaii’s Makaha Beach.  Ed is in the vid also; he appears to be in the outrigger-esque canoe alongside in various shots.

Makaha Beach is known as a big wave surf spot and has hosted several big wave competitions over the years.  Appropriately enough, the soundtrack to the nicely-shot four minute video is a chunk of Pearl Jam’s  ”Big Wave” followed by “Oceans”.  The CI Surfboard blog says “share and enjoy”, so here it is!

Aloha!

The “Singles” complex was an apartment complex located in Seattle’s Capitol Hill (19th st. and E. Thomas) and is still standing, with the same yellow paint, today.

Cameron Crowe is a personal hero of mine, and his 1992 film “Singles” is, of course, a critical part of Pearl Jam history.  So what’s up with all the key players in the film, 17 years on?  TFT pal SLM pointed our Pearl Jam peepers to a cool article posted a few days ago in the New York Daily News entitled “Where’s The Cast Of Singles Now?”. The 38, count ‘em, 38 sections of the article update us on virtually everyone in the cast, including Paul Giamatti (!), Tim Burton, Jennifer Garner’s TV Dad, “Ari Gold” from Entourage, Jeremy Piven (“What’s so funny ’bout PEACE PEACE PEACE”), and the members of our favorite band Citizen Dick.  It’s not factually perfect, but it’s certainly fun… click on the above link and check out the complete article. Here are some highlights…

Real-life Pearl Jam members made up Citizen Dick, (a name play on real-life Seattle band Citizen Sane, from “Citizen Kane”), Cliff Ponzier’s fictional band. Bassist Jeff Ament wrote Citizen Dick’s songlist (which appears in the film’s soundtrack book). The band’s songs, “Breath” and “State of Love and Trust” are featured on the soundtrack.

Known as Mookie Blaylock at the time of the film’s shoot, Pearl Jam has gone on to sell more than 30 million records and is considered one of the most successful bands of the decade. Although their contemporaries, Nirvana, criticized them for going mainstream, the band has fought battles against the commercialization of music (refusing to make music videos and boycotting Ticketmaster). Their ninth studio album, “Backspacer” is set to release in September.

Lead singer Eddie Vedder has a cameo (really?-KD) as Citizen Dick’s drummer who reassures Cliff, “a compliment for us is a compliment for you.” The 44-year-old rocker has said recently that he “completely retreated into himself” when the group shot to fame in the early ‘90s. In 2007 he completed his first solo project, the soundtrack for “Into the Wild.” The avid baseball fan also penned a song for the Chicago Cubs, “All the Way,” last year.

Bassist Jeff Ament’s apartment inspired Cliff’s digs in the film, and actor Matt Dillon actually wore Ament’s clothes in the film, according to Entertainment Weekly. Before Pearl Jam shot to fame, Ament jammed with grunge scene bands Green River and Mother Love Bone. He released two albums with his side project band Three Fish in the late ‘90s and is featured on Neil Young’s “Mirror Ball.” He released his first solo effort, “Tone” in 2008. This past spring he made headlines when Rolling Stone reported that he had been mugged outside of an Atlanta recording studio.

Guitarist Stone Gossard, above, and Ament were both members of Green River – a Seattle band hinted at via Cliff’s T-shirt in the film. Gossard also tried his hand at producing and started the record label Loosegroove, which signed the Queens of the Stone Age, but closed it in 2000. In addition to appearing on Neil Young’s “Mirror Ball” album, Gossard released his first solo project, “Greenleaf” (DUH It’s BAYLEAF -Kath) in 2001, and tracks from a forthcoming followup became available on Pearl Jam’s Web site late last year.

Again, the complete “catching up with the cast” article can be found here. Thanks again, SLM!

Here are two more lovely promo photos. The first one is courtesy the fantastic Italian fansite PearlJamOnline:

family portrait with dog

The below was found on Charlotte, North Carolina radio station WEND 106.5 FM site under the artist profile. We’d have never have found it without help from our pal Donnie R..thanks, man!

what an arm!

I’m not sure exactly who moderates this website or blog, but the gentleman that maintains YouthBaseballParks.com (a website that maintains a database of – guess what? – local baseball parks where kids can play) was apparently hanging out at an empty Fenway Park back on May 25, 2006 (the same day PJ played Banknorth Garden in Boston) and caught this video of EdVed, Jeff, Boom and what may be Mike horsing around at Fenway Park – batting, fielding, running around.  They look like they are having a blast!  Here’s what the blogmaster has to say:

I caught this video of Eddie Vedder and some of the guys from Pearl Jam playing Ball at Fenway park in Boston. I just happened to have my camera there and saw them playing with Theo Epstein. I shot this on May 25, 2006…..

Here’s what we have in the Concert Chronology about Theo showing up at the show that night:

Before “Indifference,” Ed discusses how the proceeds for the show are going to benefit a charity for homeless children in the city and how a great man and his cohorts promised they’d match the donation. He seems moved to know such a man “with intelligence and heart,” and says you may have heard of him since his name is Theo Epstein (young General Manager of the Boston Red Sox and massive PJ fan)”. The crowd goes bananas. After years of fans begging the band to play “Leash”, it’s played to a huge roar, with the crowd signing loudly along. Before “Rockin in the Free World,” a man in a brown hooded PJ sweatshirt and blue PJ ballcap comes out to join them for the set. He jams with the band and is clearly into the set. He whips his hat into the crowd, then his thick mullet wig, and it’s revealed to be Theo Epstein himself! The Boston fans go wild and chant “Theo-Theo!” Ed puts on a Terry Francona (Red Sox Manager) Red Sox jersey and they play “Yellow Ledbetter”.

And now we present: The PJ All-Stars!

The legendary Howard Zinn recently spoke with Amy Goodman of the fantastic radio and TV show Democracy Now! about his upcoming film “The People Speak”, which we well know includes performances by Ed Vedder.  Here’s the story of the inclusion of “Masters of War” – Ed’s version approved by Bob Dylan himself!

AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. In that introduction before, you have Eddie Vedder singing Bob Dylan, “Masters of War,” part of the-

HOWARD ZINN: That’s part of the documentary, yeah, singing Dylan’s song “Masters of War.” I think we had Dylan listen to Eddie Vedder sing the song, and we asked Bob Dylan if he wanted to sing it. And he said, “No, that’s good. Let Eddie sing it.” And so, we have Bob Dylan singing a Woody Guthrie song in the film, “Do Re Mi,” one of Woody Guthrie’s famous songs.

Here’s a gem of a vid from the 2005 Canadian Tour. Let’s take the Wayback Machine to September 9, 2005 and land it in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Here we are treated to a rousing version of “Rockin’ In The Free World” as performed byPearl Jam with The Supersuckers, featuring singer Eddie Spaghetti’s son Quattro helping out on heavy metal horns, tambourine and vocals. Shot side stage.

From the Concert Chronology:  Eddie Spaghetti brings out his young son, Quattro, sporting ear protective headphones, holding a black tambourine in his hand. Eddie Spaghetti just sings and watches his son, Dusty plays drums, and the others play guitar. Quattro completely steals the show during the song, singing “yeah! a lot. Mike is on his knees in front of Quattro trying to get him to play, but he just puts the mic up to Mike who says “play” into it. The Supersuckers leave the stage except for Quattro who stands at the front still saying “yeah!” and “Supersuckers!” with his hands up making the “devil” sign.

Enjoy!

Thanks Sandy S. for the spicy hot link!