Do you love Gnarls Barkley yet?

I give you the greatest 1) Femmes cover ever and 2) video featuring tiny bugs trying to infiltrate a girl's underwear. If you haven't picked up this album yet, do it immediately. No, really. This was my favorite CD over the summer.

Box Tops On The Mike Douglas Show - Chat & Soul Deep

Enjoy YouTube while it lasts, boys. Not that I've heard anything. It's just too damn cool to live. (A condition with which I'm sure Joe is familiar.)

They appear to be singing live to canned music.

Speaking of the PW580........

.....here's Mr. Westerberg playing it at the premiere for Open Season in L.A. He performed 3 songs with Tommy and Josh Freese ("Right to Arm Bears", "Love You in the Fall" and (gulp) "I.O.U.". By all accounts a swell time was had by all. I've also included a shot of the Westerbergs at the premiere.

Ah, Sweet Hypocrisy

As the story goes, the plug was pulled five minutes into the Sex Pistols' first ever live performance at St. Martins School of Art. 30 years later, they have a historical marker documenting the event.

Just goes to show that not only is all eventually forgiven, but embraced.

Pristine Power Pop

In a word, DAMN.

More like Squeeze or Split Enz power pop than Cheap Trick or Elvis Costello power pop, Jellyfish's Bellybutton came and went in 1990, wedged between the death of hair metal and the explosion of grunge. If you're looking for meaty slabs of distorted guitar you'll be disappointed, but there IS an abundance of smart lyrics, Beach Boy harmonies and solid musicianship. Bellybutton seems painstakingly crafted and is jammed with more hooks than Bill Dance's tackle box. (Rim shot!)

The band didn't stick around for long, but at least we've still got the album. Sometimes bad timing can torpedo a band (I'm looking at you, Big Star), but I've got to think that if Jellyfish hadn't dressed like H.R. Pufnstuf rejects, they might have been taken a little more seriously by the record buying public.

But I could be wrong.

Manic Street Preachers & The Holy Bible

Either of you fellers listen to this here record? I've always heard and read great things about The Holy Bible. It seems to be on every major publication's list of 100 greatest rock albums, and the Manic Street Preachers have been compared to the Clash on more than one occasion. But three songs in, it's not grabbing me.

Maybe my expectations are too high. (The same reason I can't find Amanda Hugnkiss.) Or is it just too damned British?

Killing Me Softly

"Home sales slowed and a key measure of prices fell for the first time in 11 years last month, spurred by the biggest glut of new homes on the market in more than a decade, an industry group said Monday."

Read the entire CNNMoney.com article here, if you're just too fucking happy today.

Evidently, Paul's a fan of the First Act Signature PW580...

From Tommy's discussion bored:

First Act endorsee Paul Westerberg is in for a busy week thanks to the animated film "Open Season" and its soundtrack. The excitement begins Monday, September 25th, as Paul reunites with his band The Replacements for a performance at the premier of "Open Season," to be held at the prestigious Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Westerberg will perform on stage with his First Act Signature PW580 guitar. On Tuesday, the "Open Season" soundtrack (on Lost Highway Records) hits store shelves, featuring songs by Paul Westerberg. Throughout the recording of the soundtrack, Westerberg's weapon of choice in the studio was his First Act Signature PW580 guitar. Finally, Friday, September 29th marks the release of Columbia Pictures Animation's "Open Season" in theaters nation-wide.

Surely Chris Mars isn't playing the gig... Hey, Jay, remember having a beer with Slim? And trying on his drummer's creepers?

Decisions, Decisions

This or that? If you were me, which one would you purchase today? He'p me!

Where's My Willie?

Ummmm......what happened to the 'Red Eyed Stranger' post by Joe? And where is Joe? And does Willie Nelson have the power to expunge all references of him from blogs? I swear, if Willie Nelson had Joe whacked, I will stop at nothing to exact my revenge.

Football, once a source of pleasure, now breaks my heart

I used to love to watch pro football, US style. I guess I still do, but ever since becoming the commisioner of my own league, things have gone downhill. First of all, my team sucks. Yeah, really. Secondly, I thought it would be fun to involve all of my family. All of it. Including: my divorced parents each have a team; my girlfriend has a team; I have a team; my girlfriend's father has a team; each of my two siblings have a team; and my friend Randall, who is super-competitive and lives in the UK has a team. I didn't really think about the awkward pairings (Week One: my mom vs. my dad. Future weeks include my girlfriend's father vs. members of my family whom he has never met... you get the picture). Add into the equation the fact that in my league you can post 'smacktalk' and, well.... again, you get the picture. Dammit.

Phantom Of The Paradise

I used to work with a psychiatrist who once told me that children don't "get" abstract humor until they're 12 or so. That's why kids don't think Letterman is funny. I first saw this movie when I was about ten, and it really fucked me up.

Winslow Leach just wants the world to hear his music, and what happens to him? His Faust cantata is stolen, he's beaten up and framed for drug possession, his teeth are pulled and replaced with metal dentures, and he's sent to prison. As if that isn't enough, he breaks out of prison and gets his head stuck in a record press trying to sabotage the plant!

Ha ha ha ha! Get it?

Everything about this movie disturbed me: the menacing Juicy Fruits, the casting couch vocal tryouts, the satanic contracts, Beef's onstage electrocution, the (attempted) televised assasination. And the end of the movie was particularly hard to stomach. Mortally wounded, Winslow crawls toward Phoenix, arm outstretched, while Paradise audience members crawl beside him, mockingly cheering him on ...

Okay, that's some heavy shit for a kid. But I saw the movie again as an adult and it's become one of my favorites. Weird, hunh? The Swan Archives is an excellent website with tons of ephemera for POTP obsessives.

Check it out here.

Man ...

Heyday
My heyday
It's your heyday
My my my my my heyday

It ain't gonna last
It ain't gonna last
It ain't gonna last

"Heyday," The Replacements

Cheesy Goodness

Either of you guys remember this movie from 1976? I only saw the commercial on TV a couple times, but it's one of those indelible memories from my childhood. (Burned in right beside that creepy-ass trailer for It's Alive.) I was momentarily obsessed, as I recall, cutting the ad out of the movie section of the paper and drawing pictures of Infra-Man kicking buttocks. He made The Six Million Dollar Man look like an arthritic pussy. I mean, c'mon! Just look at that costume.

Sadly, I never got to see the movie and never really gave it another thought after a few weeks.

Thirty (gasp) years later, I'm talking with a coworker about this fine piece of cinema, only to discover that it's coming out on dvd October 3rd! Hello, serendipity. Hola, coincidence. (Or if you prefer, How's it hangin', synchronicity?)

I almost DON'T want to see it, because there's no way in hell it can measure up to the expectations of the seven year old me.

Anyhoo ...

Infra-Man Trailer

Man, this takes me back ... Although this is most likely the theatrical trailer, you get the idea.

Worst. President. Ever.

Check out this seven page article over at Salon.com, an excerpt from Sidney Blumenthal's new book. It's a good summation of what a disaster Bush's presidency has been, and why.

Here's a chunk:

"Bush's presidency was uniquely radical in its elevation of absolute executive power, dismissal of the other branches of government, contempt for law, dominant power of the vice president, networks of ideological cadres, principle of unaccountability, stifling of internal debate, reliance on one-party rule, and overtly political use of war. Never before had a president shown disdain for science and sought to batter down the wall of separation between church and state. None of it seemed in the offing upon Bush's inauguration in 2001. Yet these actions were not sudden impulses, spontaneous reactions or accidental gestures. They were based on deliberate decisions intended to change the presidency and government fundamentally and forever. And these decisions had deep historical roots."

Read it here, if you wankers are still alive.

All By Myself

When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' blogs was just for fun
Those days are gone

Postin' alone
I think of both the friends I've known
But using dial-up from my home
No Dave or Joe

All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna blog
All by myself anymore

Hard to be sure
Sometimes I feel so insecure
Joe's posts so distant and obscure
Remains the cure

All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna blog
All by myself anymore

Replacements - Kiss Me On The Bus

I'm on a roll, bitches! Dug up the seldom seen second song (ooh alliteration!) from their SNL appearance.

Ray Davies On NPR

Hey guys, there's a really, really cool interview of Mr. Davies on the NPR website from last April. He chats about the new solo album (among other things) with Terri Gross for a good 30 minutes. She even persuades him to discuss his 2004 shooting!

Listen here. (You'll need to choose your player when you get there.)

Bob Dylan - Don't Start Me Talking

Is this it?

The Plugz, Dylan and why nobody really gives a fuck about technology in education...

I went with my old hippy friend Chris to see the author of the 'Dylan Encyclopedia' and 'Song and Dance Man.' Whatever-the-author's-name-was was speaking on campus, and I've been picking at my ulcer over what do do my fucking dissertation on while getting ready to take my comps, and thought it might be something fun to do.

Getting to the point, the author was entertaining and English and all that, but what was awesome was that he showed this video of Bob doing Letterman in support of 'Infidels.' The band he played with was was a punk band called The Plugz out of LA. It was le titties. He evidently turns to the band and tells them to play this old blues song, which wasn't on the album and wasn't the song they were supposed to play. Like Elvis on SNL. Very Punk! But then the band just ripped into this song. And Bob was just belting it out. It was trans-fucking-sendant. I really want to find a bootleg of it, or him playing with this band.

And fine job with the blog these days, Jay. It almost seems witty at points.

This Is What ...

This is what a Google image search of 'dylan' pulls up:

My Pants Feel Funny

Our significant others don't read this blog, do they?

Holy sheep shit. I'm like Iron Eyes Cody ovah heah.

Look What I Found

It's amazing what you can find on the internets. I simply Googled "hot chick sitting next to loser in cool t-shirt."

This was the only hit.

As the World Burns

Nice to have you back, fuckers!

I caught X with the Rollins Band Wed. night. I've been a big X fan since I don't know when, but I always knew that they were one of those bands that you could never really get until you see them live. I was right. Despite the fact that Exene Cervenka looks like a bag lady's grandma, and Billy Zoom could pass for a TV preacher, they rocked. Rocked, I say!

And Billy Zoom is a motherfucker! He had a big grin on his face the whole time and just T-O-R-E I-T U-P!!

The Rollins band was about what you'd expect. Henry certainly says what he means and means what he says. And he spits and blows his nose a lot. A L-O-T, I SAY!