Harcourt took over the Morning Becomes Eclectic post from Chris Douridas in 2000 and since has been credited with bringing a number of adult alternative acts–among them Dido, David Gray, Travis and Norah Jones–to the American mainstream. My personal suspicion was always that Harcourt had a unique ability to be in the right place at the right time more than an exceptional ear for talent (he’s frequently given credit for the success of Franz Ferdinand and Coldplay, but I’m pretty sure both acts would have broken here eventually). Still, the fact that in 2008, any radio show host in America has as much influence over music-consumption habits as Harcourt is amazing–one of his recommendations will send discs flying off record store shelves and quickly sell out showcases and concerts.

Vampire Weekend, “Ladies of Cambridge” (live on Morning Becomes Eclectic)

Ryan Adams, “Come Pick Me Up” (live on Morning Becomes Eclectic)

A successor to Harcourt’s position has not yet been announced, but in true KCRW fashion, the job will be given to the seventh subscriber to call in, as long as they have not won a prize from the station in the last ninety days.

KCRW’s Harcourt To Step Down [FMQB]

• “Cardinology’s riveting finale is ‘Stop,’ a fragile piano ballad sung in a shaky voice that slowly gains strength and takes flight. It’s clearly about rehab, and while rehab rock may be a bit of an oxymoron, Adams—who has reportedly cleaned up—defines a genre here. If it helps undermine some of the bogus junkie myths about hard drugs and creativity, all the better. ” [RS]

• “Adams today is clearly not the man he used to be—the impetuous bad-boy who thrived on excess and impulse. For all the noble soul-searching and recovery he has gone through, he should be congratulated. But ultimately most of his words here feel like common poems, platitudes and prayers, and most of Cardinology makes me miss the old Ryan Adams.” [Kansas City Star]

• “But if this album is a misstep, it’s a minor one with more than a few 
moments of redemption—the latest missive from a talented group of musicians likely to find their way back to the path before long.” [Paste]

• “Like a sip of Maker’s Mark, it’s dark, rich, grainy, if factory-produced. One could say ‘all right if you like that sort of thing,’ were it not the case that Adams makes music for people who don’t. ” [Independent]

these days i find myself working harder than ever at being at my best, overcoming my fears and pushing myself creatively in my every endeavor. my only wish after the work is completed is that it may prove further evidence that no matter how isolated we all may all feel at times, as sad or misrepresented, we are not alone. there’s hope for and within each of us.

I’ve been dealing with the truth that i have at times been a bad example and/or glorified self destructive behavior. this was never intentional, but rather a consequence of leading a public life in plain sight and never expecting any sort of preferential treatment, isolation or protection.

Regardless of varied judgments as to my cultural relevance, i am thankfully alive and exercising my joy in creating. i only hope anyone who hears, reads or sees any of my contributions will permit the work to speak where i cannot.

i’ve realized and accepted that if people decide to dislike me, they’re going to find reasons to justify disliking me. there’s nothing i can do about that. that said, it still does pain me to be accused of fictional crimes against innocents or to be implicated in romantic gossip involving the possibly reality-challenged–however unreliable the source or outlandish the accusations. in the end, however, i know that i have never done or even meant anyone any harm.

anyway, the lives of public figures are so much more boring than anyone can imagine. honestly.

and also i like metal. A LOT. (even more than last time).

It kind of reads like one of Courtney’s chant-filled blogs doesn’t it? Except with fewer typos.

A Personal Statement of Clarity for Anyone in Doubt [Ryan Adams]

Love’s post concluded with a call for Adams to pay back said $858k and let her know how his heroin habit was holding up. The post was picked up by the likes of Gawker over the weekend, and after deleting it she got into a bit of a back-and-forth with the commenters on that site and others who were so quick to defend Adams’ music (why??) and write her off as drug-addled, crazy, etc. Which, you know, sure she’s kind of nutty–most people who blog even semi-regularly are! But I also think that she has a bit of a point here, at the end of her latest missive:

I’m making a resolution to do a two hour tozo a day, every day somehow and yoga FIVE times this week. I want to be in-flow but the only flow that I know is when I chant and that just makes everything so much better- I perceive things and even receive shocks, like the Ryan one… I get them daily but I don’t care as long as it stops. I just want to move on into the future and forget this financial shit – As Marie Antoinette said, “let them eat (their stale) cake. I cant blog a trial, it’s something only lawyers can work out, so it’s just something that I have to suck up. One thing that DOES enrage me is when urban sophisticates with great breeding and cynical cognition of life make FUN of being robbed blind. I wasn’t raised to understand wealth, or even a fico score , or entities or be a forensic accountant and if I don’t do most of it myself it won’t get done, and so I’ve learned a lot and I share a 100000th of it occasionally, if it can help anyone that’s great. But to make fun of stealing and to imagine that lawyers and cops and loan officers are these fucking saints who don’t steal from uneducated rock musicians rap musicians and athletes is just plain fucking stupid? Got it?

Okay , now I don’t have to mention it again, ignorance will do your ass in , so when the media members who subscribe to my blog revive them they need to think really hard before stating I’m “crazy” or “high” because I didn’t major in English or Medieval History at Brown or Yale. I never said I did, nether do I eat fine food with my fingers or not have my own personalised stationery. I’m rather ….errr…gracious, I guess, in how I like to l.ive, and the people i like to be around. I like to learn from and I like to be ethical and simply not a thief or liar or denier or obstructer. Just let’s all get the fuck on with it, life is too short, i chose to continue working on this record for a lot of complex but very easy reasons, i fell into the luck of being in a truly monstrously great band, for the first time in my life although Hole was great on occasion there’s an innocence to this and a beastliness to this that I’m honoured to have the shamanistic moments o have ive been ripped apart and orgasmic at the things we come up with and I’m far more musical than any other thing. In fact, i care more for music than for anything else except my child. Music is all there is to me when the fire has died and you’ve got a nickel a tin cup and a pencil there’s always music , and that’s all I care about in the end in the beginning in the alpha and the omega, if you want to know me know my music and draw your conclusions from that- the rest is dross. That’s hard to say when I’m not exactly prolific, but i hope when i do rise up with new songs that are sonically the way i want them – then fuck it. judge me on that and that alone, I’m a musician first and foremost and I’m enormously slow but that’s just too bad cause i won’t go through another record that doesn’t t slake me slay me and i know is my voice. i have far too much to say in fact we have 34 songs and i have to [part with some , none are shit, and its l.ike losing a child, ii went for about 5 years without writing a real song and 3 years without writing one at all, the other 2 just struggling to care enough then a gush went off and im like a waterfall of mojo, and thats just the reality of my life given that statement its past midnight and i need to read write and make lyrics that will astound, spin em around and rub em in my skin like cobwebs.

I'm not saying she's not flawed, but that bit about the "urban sophisticates" who were so quick to just write her off without going into the lengthy backstory of what happened really rang true to me. Especially since most of those "sophisticated" comments are basically wordier equivalents of "RYAN ADAMS ROOLS U R A DUM," which, no matter how you might feel about Love or her music, is just wrong.

The raven himself is hoarse [Courtney Love's MySpace Blog]
Dante’s Inferno [Courtney Love's MySpace Blog]
Courtney Love Would Like Her Money Back, Ryan Adams [Gawker]