Talent Scout

I have a music club at school. Although most of the kids are well-meaning but warbly, occasionally I run across some really great talent. Vanessa is a sixteen year old junior who has performed in musical theater and has excellent taste in music. I got my NOLA band mate and producer buddy Dave to come over from Asheville this weekend to record her and a couple of other students. Here's a recording of her singing a One Republic song over at my Soundcloud page. Holy crikey she's good. Stay tuned for the third chorus where she lays on a big note and then a beautiful falsetto note. She figured out how to do harmonies and just generally made me feel like a total dick of a singer. I included my amp in the picture just so I could feel like I had something to do with this tornado of awesomeness.

Rock 'N' Roll Snob, The Preschool Years

Portlandia! You need to be watching.

Anybody Else ...

Bad As Me?

Failure To Participate in this survey is grounds for disbastarding.

Shit

I used to love Don Kirshner's rock concert.

Look Around You

I caught an episode of this comedy on BBC America a few years ago and then never saw it again. Look Around You is a pitch-perfect homage to the educational programs of the seventies and early eighties that I'm sure we all remember. Andy, I defer to you to explain who Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz are ...

Somewhere along the line I got a subscription to Rolling Stone. Mostly, it sucks hard (the Jonas Bros are on this month's cover...), but it still throws us old guys a bone. Two quickies this month feature the Great Alejandro Escovedo (has anyone listened to "Real Animal" yet?) and a short interview with Craig Finn from the Hold Steady.

Interestingly, both talk about their experiences playing with and meeting the Boss. Describing his encounter with Bruce, Finn says, "There are a lot of opportunities in rock & roll for your heroes to disappoint you, but I have a hard time believing Bruce has ever disappointed anyone." Indeed.

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

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.

I'm Keeping With The Theme

Best Beer Web Site In The World? Yes.

Stumbled onto this site last night and thought you bastards might be interested. Everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - you might want to know about beer is here. Consult Beer 101 for The Basics, Beer Advocacy or Beer History; check out the most recent tastings & reviews; or consult a schedule of BeerAdvocate Fests, Events & Gatherings in your area. You can also subscribe to the BeerAdvocate magazine, buy a (very affordable) t-shirt or discuss your favorite beverage on the forum. The site makes a point of distinguishing beer snobs from beer geeks, aligning itself with the latter.

You'll be required to create a free account, but with 39,500 beers in the database, it's fun to see how your own favorites stack up or look for something new to try.

Enjoy, you functional alcoholics.

Classic Sesame Street

Not sure if Andy had Sesame Street, but here's "Pinball Number Count" from our collective childhood.

As a bonus, here's a letter from the composer and producer, Walt Kraemer.

Truckin' for Jesus

Did you heathens know that in the holy book of Isiah, somewhere in Chapter 35, there is a reference to a "highway of holiness?" Did you also know that there's an Interstate 35 in the United States, traveling from the holy city of New Laredo, through Austin (Willie), Dallas (near where JFK was shot), Oklahoma City (need I remind you), and Minneapolis (falling bridge)? Start prayin', boys. And if you can watch this freak for more than 8 seconds, you're a better Christian than I.

In Search Of Steve Ditko

There was a thoroughly fascinating BBC documentary on YouTube a few days ago (broken into seven parts) about reclusive genius Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spiderman. Oh, don't bother looking for it there now, it's already been pulled for legal reasons.

Mr. Ditko basically walked away from Spiderman at the top of his game, never explaining his reasons for quitting. Ditko continued working in the mainstream comic book industry until 1998 or so, but he was never able to recapture the magic. He has refused to give interviews or make public appearances since the late 1960s, and only a handful of photos of him are known to exist publicly. The purpose of the documentary, as you may have surmised, is to find Steve Ditko. Do they? I'll never tell.

Aren't you sorry you missed it? Aren't you glad I saved it while I could? Flatulence Takes Practice!

You'll need a player to watch locally. I like FLV Player. (And it seems to work best if you open the player and then drag the file into it.)

In Color, Bitches!

Might be my favorite Cheap Trick record. Yeah, I said record.

By my estimation, only one stinker on the whole thang, and even it's passable. (Of course, I'm talking about "You're All Talk.")

So what's good on In Color? Well, how 'bout "Hello There," "Big Eyes," "Downed," "I Want You To Want Me," "Oh Caroline," "Clock Strikes Ten," "Southern Girls," "Come On, Come On," "So Good To See you."

Frequently Taking Pills!

Q&A: Cruising Public Restrooms with Lewd Intentions

Read all about it here, because I KNOW you were wondering. (Hey, isn't that one of the Village People he's with?)

We've All Been Here ...

Just not on national television. Ouch. She's obviously having a little freak out moment. What was the question again?

Homeless and Unemployed

Kara and the kids have left me alone here at my mother's house in Florida (see above) to get some work done on my dissertation. I basically have nine days of sitting out looking at the water and WORKING, with no valid excuse to not get this fucking thing almost done. I'll be unhooking the internets from the computer to lessen the distractions, but I'll check in later in the week.

Still nothing on the job front. The Uni in Jax has said they will start contacting people for interviews somewhere around the 19th of this month. It's a bit nerve-wracking. Kara's getting seriously anxious (there's the matter of getting a house and the kids in school and all that - details details), and it's keeping me awake at night. But what can you do. Don't know what's going on with Barbados.

Unemployment isn't half bad, especially when you've got lots of relatives with houses around Florida. I haven't worn shoes since June 15th. And I've basically been on a bender since around the 17th.

ps - we went out on my father-in-law's boat with the kids to watch fireworks. Right as the grand finale started, something went wrong and the whole thing went off on the beach. It was fucking amazing. We were about 200 yards away in a boat. It was scary, but it only lasted about 5 seconds. Watch!