Vacation!

I leave with my son for a week at the gulf on Thursday! I'm trying to burn some road CDs. Would anyone like to suggest/upload a road trip playlist? I may be able to come up with one, but I'm looking at 14 hours in the car. I can just burn what I've been listening to, but would love some suggestions, if any of you chaps happen to know something about music.

Also, some recent acquisitions being Flown To Phoenix, if you're interested. Genesis (which I've never been in love with) and Bill Withers.

College World Series

The college baseball regionals start this weekend, with LSU riding a 20-game winning streak, and dark horse Tulane battling Free Shoes U at the Tallahassee regional. Notwithstanding the aurally-offensive and apparently dangerous metal bats, a few of the things I really like about college baseball are:

The complete lack of middle relief pitching, which means an 8-run inning is always on the cards, and no game is over until its over.

Pitchers who are the team's best hitter so play a regular position between starts.

Beer.

Arizona's State players all wearing knee-high socks.

Restaurants in Omaha that learned how to make passable red beans and rice and jambalaya because LSU is in the college world series so often.

And last but not least, the rebuilt post-Katrina ballpark at Tulane, complete with draft Abita and not a bad view in the house (pictured above, as seen on my flying visit last Friday to catch part of the CUSA championship and satisfy my crawdaddy cravings).

Best Long Distance Acceptance Speech Ever?

So Andy, who is Russell Brand? As you are the British bastard, I turn to you.

Really Important Books

Okay, Here's my top music-related books. There are a bunch more I need to read, so if my fellow bastards will add to it, I'll know what I need to add to my Amazon.com order. Sorry, but I don't see myself getting to Melmoth the Wanderer anytime soon.

• Careless Love: the Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick


• Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick


• Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam cooke by Peter Guralnick (hey!)


• Chronicles by Bob Dylan


• Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough


• Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes by Greil Marcus


• Big Star: The Short Life, Painful Death, and Unexpect Resurrection of the Kings of Power Pop by Rob Jovanovic


• The Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa


• Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil

Obviously, I'm a fan of non-fiction.

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

Man, I really miss Warren Zevon. The guy was just an amazing songwriter and was an inspiration when facing a painful death from lung cancer. If you've never checked out his final album, The Wind, you should. He recorded it under intense physical pain and somehow managed to make his best album in years. When he was in the last couple of months of his life, Letterman devoted an entire show to him. No other guests, just Warren, his wit, and his music. Here's Warren performing one of my favorites.

Catchy Friday

This will put a spring in your step.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

There's a spreadsheet you can download here that lists the 1001 books you must read before you die. I, sadly, am only in the mid-thirties. There are several authors represented I have read another title by, but according to the list, I'm in trouble. I'm curious to know how many of these titles you bastards have read. My money is on Jay or Andrew for highest count.

Map of the Week: The World in Orwell's 1984

Can't think why the reaction to Scott McClellan's new book put me in mind of this.

Bonus

Here's Prince doing 'Creep' at Coachella last month.

Radiohead, Live at Bonaroo 2006

In naming Radiohead the best festival band of 2008, David Fricke said:

The best live band in rock played its greatest concert ever on June 17th,2006, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. "The performances are brilliant,"says Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, "because they are so relaxed." AtBonnaroo, Greenwood, singer Thom Yorke, drummer Phil Selway, and guitarists EdO'Brien and Colin's brother Jonny covered every extreme in their studio catalog,from the violent double-guitar clang of 1995's The Bends to the hauntedelectronics of 2000's Kid A. But it was in the fresh, unfinished songs, latercut for 2007's In Rainbows, that Radiohead peaked that night. "In 'House ofCards,'" Colin says, "50,000 people threw their glow sticks in the air to thiskick-drum beat and Thom's keening voice. In the film [of the concert], it lookslike Thom walked into a party where he feels instantly at home." Some new songssounded flat at that show, Colin admits. "But isn't that what people want to see — thenext part of the story? They don't want some prepackaged supper-club band."

Seeing as none of us were there, we might have to just take his word for it, but Fortunately There's Proof.

Bodysnatchers

The Best Live Act in the World

Evidently has now gotten better. I saw them live once and there were lots of people in furry costumes, but no naked ladies on stage. Feeling slightly ripped off here. Pitchfork has more photos from Sasquatch Fest.

It's Good!

Anybody else see it? Roger Ebert sums it up best:

I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you.

Fuck the haters, it's solid.

Top Ten Reasons Firefox 3 Will Kick Balls

Firefox 3 is almost ready for prime time.

From Lifehacker:

10. Souped-up Add-ons manager

A big part of what makes Firefox so special to power users is its extensibility with extensions, add-ons, plug-ins and themes, and Firefox 3's Add-ons dialog got the attention it deserved. The Fox's Add-Ons menu is more robust and intuitive on at least two fronts. You can search and install extensions and themes right from the pop-up box, no browsing required. Also, a new plug-in manager lets you enable and disable third-party helpers like Flash, QuickTime, and anything else that makes content work (and causes you grief).

9. More intuitive interface overall

Mozilla tweaked and updated a whole lot of little things here and there throughout Firefox 3, which amounts to a big overall boost in usability. Most noticeably when you first switch, the Back button only appears on the address bar if there is a page to go back to, and when it does, it's bigger and easier to click. Users who want to make sites with small text more readable permanently are in luck; Firefox 3 can increase the size of images and text, or just the text, on hard-to-read sites. In addition, Firefox 3 applies favicons more consistently to bookmarks, you can click a site's favicon to get extended site identification information, you can resize the search box to hold more than two words, and the find-on-page search box automatically grabs the currently selected word, just to name a few new UI improvements.

In the long term, once webapps catch up, Firefox 3 will let you do really neat stuff in your browser, like register your favorite webapps to open certain file types, and access your online data even when you're not connected to the 'net. To get a taste, see how you can configure Firefox 3 to launch Gmail for mailto links.

8. Stronger phishing and malware protection

Firefox 3 has stronger filters and protection against malware, phishing sites, cookies, and other tools that compromise privacy and security. A malware warning shows up when you visit sites known to install malicious software, Firefox 3 doesn't show the content of knock-off sites (like PayPal "Update Your Account" phishing scams) by default, and Firefox 3 checks against Google's ever-growing blacklist of phishing sites. Now you can feel even better switching your less tech-aware relatives over to the open-source browser.

7. Improved download manager

Never wonder where a download came from, or went to, again. Gran Paradiso's download manager lets you search through recent files, resume big downloads after a crash or restart, and lets you keep an eye on your transfers in the status bar.

6. Native looks for every system

Your browser is a serious part of your computer time, so having it look like nothing else on your system can be seriously annoying. Firefox's designers made system integration a priority with this release, and it shows—even Windows XP's and Vista's button layouts have subtle differences in color and shading. There's differences at deeper levels, too, with Cover Flow-type styling in the add-ons manager for OS X, transparencies in key places in Vista and OS X, and other tweaks that make your browser feel like a natural extension of your system.

Read the remaining five reasons here.

This Made Me Laugh

The Hold Steady Almost Killed Scarlett Johansson

The Hold Steady live from Emo's (Austin, of course). New album in July. Playing Carrboro, NC (wherever the hell that is) August 12. Scarlett Johansson is hot. Femininas Tatas Poderosas!

"You Can Make Him Like You"

you don't have to go to the right kind of schools,
let your boyfriend come from the right kind of school
you can wear his old sweatshirt
you can cover yourself like a bruise

What's not to like about Scarlett Johansson?

The buxom starlet has released a cacophony of poorly executed, insanely over-produced Tom Waits covers. Her debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head rivals Williams Shatner's for great songs gone unforgivably wrong, though I wouldn't tell her so to her breasts.

Face, I mean.

Helpless confusion breaks out at Sears

I'm confused: Is this the men's room or the ladies room?

The Genius Of Flight Of The Conchords

May 20, 1873: Happy Birthday Waist Overalls

From Wired:

Jacob Youphes, a Latvian immigrant who changed his name to Jacob Davis after coming to the United States in 1854, was working as a tailor in Reno, Nevada, when he hit on the idea of using copper rivets to reinforce denim working pants. Since he obtained his denim from Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco, Davis approached Strauss with an offer to file for a joint patent.

Strauss -- knowing a good thing when he saw it -- accepted, and the modern "blue jean" was born.

135 years young today. Come on , you didn't think I'd just post a picture of jeans, did you?

My Head Just Exploded

Drum teacher Danny Britt applies paradiddles as quintuplets. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ...

You're probably asking yourself if he explains the intro for "Hot For Teacher." Why yes, yes he does! Fascinating stuff for wannabe drummers like me.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

YouTube Comes Through Again

Generosity of Spirit in Chevy Chase, MD

I can understand "No Loitering" signs outside convenience stores, even if they usually have the opposite effect, but putting this sign on a bench at a bus stop seems a bit much to me.

Map of the Week: Area codes in which Ludacris claims to have Ho's

“I’m a female and a feminist. I dislike the usage of the word ‘ho’. However, as a geography major, I find this song hilarious, and had to map it,” says Stefanie Gray, referring to ‘Area Codes’ by the rap artist Ludacris.

Some interesting Ludacris stats:

-- Ludacris heavily favors the East Coast to the West, save for Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.
-- Ludacris has hoes in the entire state of Maryland.
-- Ludacris has a disproportionate ho-zone in rural Nebraska. He may favor girls who farm.
-- Ludacris’s ideal ‘ho-highway’ would be I-95.
-- Ludacris is not afraid of strong, intelligent women. He has hoes in the Midway and Wake Islands. Only scientists are allowed to inhabit the Midway Islands, and only military personnel may inhabit the Wake Islands.

Fred Prellberg

Fred Prellberg - No Man's Land mp3

I heard this terrific track on WEVL, the local community station the other day. (You can play the song from this link.) The CD player in my truck broke a while back, so I've been stuck with radio. The song is good, but also reminds of the value of listening to the radio once in a while, as another corridor for new music.

I'm still a member of the station (as they remind me during every pledge drive), but had fallen out of the habit of listening. Do you bastards listen to radio at all? Do you have a good local station? (Hope this isn't a painful question for Dr. Joe, having left KGSR territory recently.)

Catchy Friday - Late Edition

My friend Monroe introduced me to this track and it has steadily grown on me. The video depicts fairly accurately my experience of the husband/wife relationship, but the song is the thing.

Catchy Friday

Undeniably catchy. The video really perks up after a minute and a half.

Speaking of Rock Hudson

Kind of a long story, but...

My father-in-law, let's call him Shank, was at a convention in Vegas. He's sitting at a table with his wife and a handful of other people he doesn't know. An announcer comes up and says 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Jim Nabors will be up here in a minute to speak to you.'

Shank, thinks this would be a great time to pull out the old Rock Hudson / Jim Nabors joke (Hudson died without any friends, but he had Nabors up the ass). Dead silence. Nobody laughs. So he shakes it off, thinking Ah, can't win 'em all.

A few minutes later, Nabors comes up on stage and before he gets started, he says, 'I'd just like to say hello to my mother and sister who are in the audience...' and the spotlight shines on the table where Shank's sitting, and Nabors' mother and sister are smiling and waving.

True story.

Choose Life

OK, here's my nominee for Best Beginning of Film Ever. I started thinking about this after seeing Iron Man last weekend, which has a terrific beginning. But not better than Trainspotting. Or The Big Chill. Or Raiders of the Lost Ark. What are the best film intros ever?

Paberback Book Swap

So there's this service where you can post paperback books you want to give away. Somebody says they want it, you mail it to them and then you can order a free book from someone else. All it costs you is the postage to mail your book to someone else. The book you want comes to your mailbox. Cheaper, but a bit more trouble than Amazon. I'm liking the savings and don't mind the legwork so much. They have a CD service, too, but you bastards probably aren't into music.

If you sign up, tell 'em I referred you and I get some Tupperware or something. mcurtis@shareone.com

The Most Gag-Inducing Moment In Cinema History

Fuck Doris Day, and fuck Pillow Talk.

Where news breaks

This is a map representing the frequency with which each state was the dateline for Associated press stories from 1994 - 1998. Possibly a bit dubious given that the dateline of many stories will be the home of the news source (e.g. D.C., New York, Atlanta) rather than where the news actually happened, but interesting nonetheless. Texas is pretty small, considering.

There but for the grace of God . . .

From today's Guardian:

An Australian motorist has been fined for putting a seatbelt around a case of beer instead of a five-year-old passenger. . . . Four adults were in the car, two in the front seat and two in the back, said Constable Burnett. The carton of beer, which contained 30 bottles, was strapped in between the two adults in the back. "The child was sitting in the lump in the centre, unrestrained," the police officer added.

One of these two performers can really sing!

Which is it?

OK, so who's posting Streisand's latest?

Geez, How Long Did This Take?

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Home Before Dark

I know we have some Neil fans on the blargh, so I figured I'd post on his new one, Home Before Dark. Rick Rubin produces again and the band includes Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Smokey Hormel and other luminaries of Rubin's producing stable. I'm a big fan of 12 Songs, but this one isn't doing it for me so far for a couple of reasons.

First, for God's sake, who was editing? Most of the songs here are looooooooooong. I'm talking 5, 6, and even 8 minutes. Which is cool if you're Queen, but not so much for Neil. The lyrics are heartfelt, but sometimes rather trite. I know we're talking about the Diamond man here, but there's a line in the sand that shouldn't be crossed. Still, there are some good tunes and the accompaniment is again sparse and sympathetic. The weird melancholy that has run throughout the man's entire ouevre is present and accounted for, and I'd much rather hear Neil going in this direction than some of the shite he put out in the 80s and 90s. Sadly though, this is not going to put him in the Cash-classics latter day revival category that Rubin is probably hoping for. If you're a fan, check it out for yourself. Feels Typically Processed.

Lovely

Wedding in Florida.
Brilliant.
I'm the one with the hangover.

Oh, The Things I Do For You Bastards

$17.98?!

Okay, that's the bad news. I'm happy to report that this is a rock-solid chunk of Memphibian power pop, dripping with that mid-70s, AM radio production. But I must say, you'll be much more satisfied if you go in expecting Todd Rundgren rather than Big Star. (Prior to my purchase, I was a tad nervous, as I couldn't find a sampling of this CD anywhere.)

To my relief, it's miles better than that over-hyped, godawful Rock City disc that finally saw the light of day in 2003. For comparison, you may choose to Forgo The Pinwheels.

Fetch me a goblet of something cool and refreshing

I've been flying a lot lately for work, and found this rather amusing:

It Only Took Me A Year

Gig poster in the mails today. I swear by all that is unholy.

Crimes against humanity

And so to Texarkana for a hearing this morning. I popped into a Walmart to grab a couple of CDs for the drive back up to Little Rock (devil of a place to get to, Texarkana). Pickings were slim (other than Toby Keith and Hannah Montana, of course), so I grabbed the first Amy Winehouse CD, which I have never heard. Only after I hit the road did I see it is the "edited" (i.e. censored) version. I didn't even know such things existed. #@%$ers.

VE Day

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Feeling That Pavement was one of those bands that maybe I didn't LOVE as much as I should, and knowing that Janet Weiss is the drummer for the Jicks, and seeing as how the slackers at the record store I visited yesterday didn't have the 'Mats reissues (fuckers), I picked this up. The second song is too long and annoys my sensitivities (sensibilities?), but the rest is working pretty well.

Looks like we'll have plenty to listen to this weekend.
I'm off to Florida for a couple of days.

Momofuku and Other Delights

So my favorite artist has released a new album, Momofuku, named after the inventor of instant cup-o-noodles. The initial release was on vinyl only, with a traditional CD and iTunes release following this week. The album was recorded in about a week with the Imposters with lots of assistance from Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), her boyfriend Johnathan Rice, and folks from Beachwood Sparks and Los Lobos. If you are a fan at all, this one will blow your socks off. No arty pretense, no genre straightjackets, just straight ahead pop and rock numbers with lots of guitar and a real air of fun and ease around every song. 'American Gangster Time' hearkens back to This Year's Model, while 'Mr. Feathers' sounds like it could have come from a 1967 Kinks album. 'My Three Sons' has EC in a rare sentimental mood and 'Go Away' might be one of the catchiest things he's ever done with its buzzing organ riff and great minor chord change during the chorus. My favorite though is 'Stella Hurt', the true tale of a great Louisiana jazz vocalist whose career was sidetracked by her USO career which shot her voice. Its a vicious rock song with a great lift from the Beatles 'Hey Bulldog' to drive it along. Kick ass.

Anywho, Flood the Panties for your taste of Momofuku. As an added side dish, please find Chris Mars' Horseshoes and Handgrenades and this evening, the new Neil Diamond Home Before Dark. More on that one tomorrow. Enjoy!

Wednesday's Boots...Sort of

Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 -- recorded in Florida. Peter Guralnick's book, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, is one of the best books I've ever read. Seriously, it was much better than the other two. Sam was a complex guy, and this recording shows his saucier side. Is there any greater voice? Otis? Elvis? Dave?



Twistin' The Night Away

Et Tu, Diamond Dave?

This is either the best or worst isolated vocal track I've ever heard.

Your opinions matter, provided you bastards are still alive.

Oh!

Scrapple is a savory mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour, often buckwheat flour. The mush is formed into a loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then fried before serving.

Chalk one up for the optimists

Not sure about the "fish breakfast," but bless them for trying.

Believe The Hype

It's as good as everybody says. I'm not prone to hyperbole, but this may be my all-time favorite superhero movie. Perfect casting, solid story, seamless effects, fantastic action. (And a little comic book geek surprise after the credits, so stick around.) The suit, designed by Stan Winston, is absolutely amazing. Likewise, the CGI is very convincing, unlike the cartoony Spiderman.

This is Marvel Studios entry into the motion picture business, and they've made a damn good first impression. This weekend's box office is the second biggest opening for a non-sequel ever, $201 million worldwide. Of course, the advantage of Marvel owning the characters and financing their own movies is the possibility for cameos. And if you believe the rumors, Marvel is laying the foundation for an eventual Avengers movie, giving each character his own franchise first. The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man are out of the gate, but they're spooling up for Thor and Captain America now.

Let me know what you bastards think if you see it.

I'm Keeping With The Theme

All Mats All The Time

Teenage Kicks has a very inneresting interview with Peter Jesperson about the Mats and the reissues. It's nice to see them being talked about so much lately. Hopefully I will be able to pick up 'Let It Be' sometime this weekend.

Catchy Friday

Catchy Friday returns with "Les Breastfeeders" - one of the francophone bands I saw in Lafayette last weekend.

Funny Funiculaire

Bootleg Wednesday on a Thursday

Sorry. What day is it again? Here's Ryan Adams and his glorious Cardinals at the Paramount Theater in lervely Austin, Tejas, circa 2007. Sigh. I didn't ftp it. If you want it, get it here.

Disc I 01. Please Do Not Let Me Go 02. Blue Sky Blues 03. Blue Hotel 04. The Sun Also Sets 05. Cold Roses 06. Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. 07. Easy Plateau 08. Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part 09. Starlite Diner 10. Let It Ride 11. I Taught Myself How To Grow Old 12. Goodnight Rose 13. Dear Chicago 14. Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd. 15. Nightbirds

Disc II 01. Dear John 02. Wild Flowers 03. Off Broadway 04. Two 05. The End 06. Peaceful Valley 07. What Sin Replaces Love 08. Magnolia Mountain 09. I See Monsters

Ryan Adams (Vocals / Guitar) Neal Casal (Guitar / Background Vocals) Chris Feinstein (Bass / Background Vocals)Jon Graboff (Pedal Steel / Background Vocals)Brad Pemberton (Drums)Jamie Candiloro (Piano)