Starry Eyes

I don't want to argue. I ain't gonna budge.
Won't you take this number down before you call up the judge?
I don't want to argue. There's nothing to say.
Get me out of your starry eyes and be on your way!

Friday random musical spew, we're starting late, so off we go:

1. Flying Saucer from the album "Polkas For A Gloomy World" by Brave Combo

I don't want to read your book.
(read your book)
I don't want to hear your tale.
(hear your tale)
I don't want to see any photos you took
Or get UFO news in the mail
(U-F-O)
I want to see something not from Earth,
Something new to understand,
Something way beyond sex, death, or birth,
Or playing music in this band.

2. Tubby Brothers from the album "Nashville Radio Companion Earwig" by Jon Langford ....aaaaaaaannnnnnndd THERE'S the weekly Mekons connection, 2nd out of the gate!
3. Deathwish from the album "Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings (Disc 1)" by The Police
4. A Most Successful Formula from the album "Dispepsi" by Negativland One of the most hilarious anti-commercial publications of last century. was hard to find for a while because of legal challenges from - you guessed it - Pepsi-Co. "A Most Successful Formula."
5. Magnum Opus from the album "Kansas [Boxed Set Disc Two]" by Kansas Ouch; that'll take a point or ten off of the IMS rating.
6. Wayside from the album "D.I.Y.: Come Out And Play" by Artful Dodger
7. Boops (Here To Go) from the album "The Island Story: 1962-1987 - 25th Anniversary [Disc 1]" by Sly & Robbie
8. Jane Austen's Door from the album "Darktown" by Steve Hackett
9. I Shall Not Be Moved from the album "Unearthed IV: My Mother's Hymn Book" by Johnny Cash
10. Basketball Jones from the album "Butterface" by Ghettobillies


Bonus, oh, I don't know, 4.6:

11. Boilin' Blazes from the album "The Secondman's Middle Stand" by Mike Watt Watt! The Mighty Boomstick!
12. Christmas Is Quiet from the album "Just Say Noël" by The Wild Colonials
13. Aries from the album "Indelibly Stamped" by Supertramp Some IMS may tag me on this one too, but this is from some really obscure early stuff, and is more jazz-inflected, more Steely Dan-ish than you would think.
14. Is It Luck? from the album "Sailing The Seas Of Cheese" by Primus Oooh, that's an aggressive end note. Here's the point six:
14.6 Dragon Lady from the album "Lost Somewhere Between The Earth and My Home" by The Geraldine Fibbers Excellent song to end this on

I can be quiet or I can be loud
Anything to make my daddy proud
We'll take hostages make demands
Set fire to all our best laid plans
We'll assemble volatile explosive devices
Sell them for exorbitant prices
Purchase an aircraft learn to fly
Run outta gas while we're in the sky
Automatic pilot and x-ray spex
We were kissing in the cockpit when the airplane wrecked

Everything I say is a stupid lie.
I won't tell the truth even when I die.
I'll pick myself to pieces 'til the end of time,
then I'll glue'em back together in a stupid rhyme, yeah yeah.

Come On Like The Fast Lane

I have a friend, Scary Joe, who used to do a lot of work with the local music guys. Load outs and tech, but for the really fortunate bands, he would do the mix. He had an excellent ear; especially for vocals. His best work was for the power pop band Blue In The Face, who featured a lead vocalist with a broad, middle ground vocal that should be swallowed up in the instruments, and a three piece horn section which drove the whole thing into overdrive. And Joe could mix that in a way that you could hear the vocals, and as a bonus the snare drum snap could rip your face off, a signature of his.

It would have been nice to see Joe at the boards last night.

We almost didn't go to see the Silos; Zelmo, of course, is still under house arrest, and Silent Mike was feeling a bit down and not in the mood for a band. So I sat down and watched Harold and Maude, and dozed off with Toby on my chest.

But we sacked up, and hit the club, because hey, it had been fifteen years since I'd seen the Silos, and you know, it's live music.

Local alt-country stalwarts the Carolinas opened, with a nice set of mid-tempo country rockers. But as I mentioned, the mix was a bit tough on the vocals, which tended to disappear into the higher end of the guitars. Unfortunately.

But at the end of their set, they asked if Jon Dee Graham could come up to play a True Believers song. (.Jon dee was the second act on the bill). And the unassuming grizzled guy who'd been hanging at the bar climbed the stage, and blistered a cow-punk song with a layer of guitar skronk that was completely arresting.

I confess that I had no idea who Graham was. The song he played with the Carolinas made me wonder if he had been in the True Believers, which was a legendary '80's band that Bloodshot artist Alejandro escovedo had been in; I was not terribly familiar with the band.

But Graham took the stage a short while later, with a battered electric/acoustic guitar. Walter Salas-Humara of the Silos introduced him, and stood in the front of the crowd for most of the set, watching.

What happened was astonishing. Graham played a number of songs, that ranged from nearly whispered vocals to bashing acoustic punk, with a harsh, growled vocal that was nearly Tom Waits. But the real star of his performance was the songs.

The Songs. Stark, brutal, arresting, confessional stories of aging, and loss, and heartbreak. A No Depression writer said Graham's songs sound like 4 AM. The crowd was not just hushed, it was absolutely silent during the songs, something I've never seen in a club. Never. Graham had the whole crowd mesmerized, rapt in the stories he was telling.

The second half of his set, he brought the Silos up to back him while he played some rockers, including a sweet little ditty called "Laredo" about a 'dead hooker in the trunk'. When he spoke between songs, he revealed a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. Encouraging the sales of his latest CD, he said "I have to sell fifteen CDs tonight for this to make any kind of sense whatever. The first five....will pay for breakfast tomorrow and a pack of cigarettes. The next five will pay for lunch and another pack of cigarettes. If I sell five more, I can refill my meds, and while they won't make the voices stop, the voices will become more encouraging."

The Silos hit the stage soon after, and had similar issues with the vocals as the Carolinas. The songs were good, and they hit them with energy and passion, but the vocals were a bit indistinct, taking the edge off the music. Jon Dee Graham joined them for much of their set, adding his lead guitar and really punching up the songs. But for me, the whole night was made by Jon Dee Graham, a revelation. I bought his new CD, and aim to download his others as soon as I can. He's a new favorite, and next time he passes through, I will be haranguing everybody nearby to go see him. If you see his name on a local bill, just go.

Somewhat Related: Howie Klein, formerly of Sire Records and a current political blogger, has an excellent post about the crash of the music industry that helps to explain that Jon Langford quote up there. It was inspired by seeing a hot new band that has no record label, and no distribution, and doesn't need it. It should be noted that both Jon Dee Graham and the Silos had early major label success, which promptly turned to disillusion and being eliminated because the second tries didn't meet the corporate ideas of success. In particular, Graham ridiculed the notion that his former label spent $40,000 trying to get him played on the radio. The Radio! Ha.

And now, both have come to terms with their careers, and managed to make a living mainly outside of the record industry, finding homes on small labels that are artist-oriented like Bloodshot, and are much more directly involved in their own production and marketing. And not inconsequentially, I'd guess are happier doing so.

Jesus Built My Hotrod

I was going to send this Friday Music Snooters out to Barbara Boxer and the other Democratic committee heads, for not putting up with any more Republican bullshit. Wield those subpoenas, guys. And Boxer has a handy way with a slapdown. See her scathing of Inhofe during Gore's testimony.

Then I though maybe I'd send it out to Bush, Rove, and Tony Snow for their complete and total asshattery in maintaining with straight faces, that Congress doe not have oversight of the executive branch of government. It's called fifth grade civics, you flaming assholes. Slap 'em with contempt, Waxman.

But then I realized I overcharged Zelmo for his ticket to Sebadoh on Tuesday; further, I never paid him back for the beers he bought me, so I owe him. Name the time and place, dude.

I almost decided to send it out to Andrew sullivan - a self- proclaimed Libertarian (who nonetheless mostly carries water for the Republicans, despite their stance against civil rights for people like himself) - for writing admirably of the class and bravery shown by John and Elizabeth Edwards in facing her recurrence of cancer (in a rib, which is incurable though treatable) and calling it "...the reality of family values." It's obvious that the challenges he experiences in living with HIV have given him sympathy for other people afflicted with incurable diseases.

In the end, though, it was obvious that I had to send this out to our cat Toby, who has been missing since last weekend.



He showed up at the back door last night, a fair bit skinnier and a WHOLE lot dirtier. And completely needy. Food! And Petting! More Food! Nap! But we were happy to see him anyway.




73.2 days of noise, 27,266 items.

1. Never Leaving from the album "Come On Like the Fast Lane" by The Silos well, that's cool. We're going to see the Silos tonight at Points East Pub. I saw them years ago, when they only had a couple of albums out, and they were great. They've done a bit of label hopping since, but now are on Bloodshot, home of Jon Langford and Graham Parker.
2. Song For Dennis Brown from the album "The Sunset Tree" by The Mountain Goats
3. Faded Smiles (Three Imaginary Boys Studio Outtake) from the album "Three Imaginary Boys (Deluxe Edition)" by The Cure
4. Horses from the album "Songs Of False Hope And High Values" by Sally Timms & Jon Langford A classic. And THERE'S our Mekons connection for the week. Well Done.
5. Pineapple Tuesday from the album "Excellent! - The Violent Years" by The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy
6. Better Nature from the album "The Tape Of Only Linda" by The Loud Family
7. I No Longer Fear The Headless from the album "Interbabe Concern" by The Loud Family Two in a row from the Louds. What are the frickin odds of that?
8. Valerie Loves Me from the album "International Pop Overthrow" by Material Issue Great song from an old band from Chicago.
9. Have A Drink On Me from the album "Back In Black" by AC/DC
10. I Am Alone from the album "Basketball Diaries_The" by Graeme Revell & Jim Carroll



It's spring, so here's the bonus:

11. Broadway from the album "Sandinista! (Disc 2 of 2)" by The Clash
12. Song #4 from the album "Underwater Moonlight" by The Soft Boys
13. Renegade Princess from the album "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" by Sonic Youth
14. Kneeling from the album "Dance the Night Away" by Scud Mountain Boys
15. Beyond Love from the album "Mind Bomb" by The The



Have a weekend, everybody.

Gimmie Indie Rock

OK, Zelmo, I was wrong. with the additional Sebadoh songs, I've got just over 27,000 songs on my box. Now THAT's the sign of someone with no discernment.

Sebadoh played, Zelmo left. He's been a bad boy, and was due for chastisement, apparently.

Opening bands: Bent Moustache from the Netherlands, and You Am I from Austria. Good stuff, but you know what? They don't sing with accents.

Now, the IMS contingent assures me that Sebadoh are "over-hyped indie rock from yesteryear" so it seems that even though this is pretty damn hip for Milwaukee, it strains my credentials as a minor Insufferable Music Snob. So be it.

Because I didn't even really tip to Sebadoh until after this Gaffney left the band for more-or-less good (he was intermittent since basically the inception of the band) and since he was with the band last night, they mainly played the stuff HE was familiar with, which was the stuff that I am unfamiliar with, and the less mainstream of the whole batch.

But their sound is basically the same either way, a lo-fi mix of plaintively-voiced semi ballads punctuated with thrashing noise fests that would do Sonic Youth proud, often within the same song.

Before playing a note, Barlow was bitching about his amp, and I feared and Alex Chilton act (story for a different time). But he explained that he'd just had it fixed, and the repair guy assured him it wouldn't need repair for years, and it was already acting up, so maybe he was justified. After a bit of twiddling, he just moved on and borrowed a head from another band, and moved on to the show. The sound was just clear enough, and started at a comfortable level, but by the end my ears were ringing.

All three members sang, and all three played any of the instruments, so much time was spent rotating seats. Much time was also spent in "Interminable Tuning Breaks". Calculatedly shambolic, like they wanted people to drift out of the club.

And then they would hit a song like it stole their lunch money. No excuses, no mercy, no extravagances. which is kind of their charm. You watch them, and it sounds like they came out of the basement yesterday. Today I was inspired to search out the newly re-released "III", which is a tremendous bargain at 41 tracks for $10.

I could try to tell you the set list, but I didn't know the names of many of the songs. They played a handful from 'bakesale' which I recognized. A trio of encores careened the night to an end with "Gimme Indie Rock" which came across as a sarcastic blast through the noise and shouted vocals. Barlow drank a glass of whiskey and left to look for Indian food.

You know? It was good.

God Is A Big Wheel

Laugh Like Hell.

The Only Lesson Learned

This week's Random Musical Snooters goes out to the misanthropes at Little Green Footballs and Free Republic, who have been hatin on Jimmy Carter for quite some time now, and most recently and reprehensibly, have been crying that America's newest torture confessor, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, failed in his supposed attempt on Carter's life.

(notwithstanding, I thought us Democrats were the best friends the terrorists evah had? So why would they try to kill one, who happens to be the President, again? Logic, fellas. Don't let anybody tell you it's your strong suit).

Sickening bastards.

So this goes out to... well, anybody who has ever forgiven someone else. Because I don't believe the scumsucking bottom dwellers in those comments ever have.

And to South Africa:

Deaths from back street abortions have dropped by 91 percent in the decade since South Africa became one of the few African countries to legalize abortion, health care workers said.

Still at 102 gigs of music. It's been a hectic week.


1. Nothing On My Mind from the album "Cereal Killers" by Too Much Joy Another TMJ song. beauty.
2. Lively Up Yourself [Live] from the album "The Principle Of Moments" by Robert Plant
3. Hobgoblins from the album "Clowns In The Sky II" by Mystery Science Theater 3000
4. Toybox from the album "Butch" by The Geraldine Fibbers
5. Mother Of The Bride from the album "Don't Try This At Home" by Billy Bragg
6. Feeling Lucky from the album "Stoned And Dethroned" by The Jesus & Mary Chain
7. The Beautiful Dead from the album "Extremities Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions" by Killing Joke
8. Born To A Family from the album "Oceans Apart" by The Go-Betweens
9. Asphalt from the album "Low-Fi at Society High" by The Figgs
10. Money Song from the album "Monty Python Sings" by Monty Python


Kinda heavy on the filler this week.

Little Sister from the album "Concrete Blonde [Bonus Track]" by Concrete Blonde

Don't Fall Girl from the album "The Intake" by Mike Gent



Oh that's enough, don't you think?

Who Killed Bobby Fuller?

The torture-inspired confessions of Khalid Mohammed have the rightists in a tizzy today. Thank pasta they have something to concentrate on besides the end of Gonzales political career, not to mention the potential of Turdblossom testifying under oath.


In particular, the knuckledragging wing of the Republican Party (their base) is particularly incensed. Not at the torture, of course; they likey them the torture.

No, what's got the Little Green Footballers all excited is that he also confessed to authoring a plot to assassinate President Carter, and these subhuman Rightards are moaning about his inability to do so. Apparently they all have a thing against Habitat for Humanity.

They are slavering in their little petty liberal killing revenge fantasies over there. All the worst of the worst in humanity is craling, oozing, and slobbering over the HTML there, looking and smelling for all the world like a festering septic tank.

Insane, bloodthirsty thugs who do not deserve the name human. They should make anyone sick.

Trouble in The Land

Lots of stuff I need to get out here, but I was forced to upgrade my blogger account, and it broke my WYSIWYG blog editor and my link from UTube, so things may get a little sparse around here.

Anyone got anything else to say? All the kewl bloggers do it, so I'm just gonna call this an open thread. Drink Up, Shriners.

Bodhráns on The Brain

First of all, thanks to Pinkó Punkó, I can now get the little accent doodad over the a úp there.


Black 47 played at Shank Hall last night. The best Irish-expatriate, independent, horn-fueled alterna-world-rock-hip hop political band fronted by a playwright you'll ever see.

No kidding though. The merch table looks like a garage sale. Books, cds, shirts, cassettes(!) , dvds (hanx for teh swag, mike!)

Milwaukee band called the Sandcarvers opened up. They were pretty damn good, and were having a good time playing. Definitely not phoning it in. we'll plan on checking them later in the spring when they come back from their UFO tour.

Black 47 hit the stage at 10-ish with beer, whiskey, and a new bass player; it's not his fault he looks like Peter Brady. He rocks though.

They even had a couple of new songs, including one based on a Chicago fan who started watching them play live as a kid, and has grown up to serve in Iraq. They're one of the few bands out there to write poltiical songs, anti-war songs from an unabashed soldiers' perspectives.

In fact, much of their music is informed by the Irish history learned by Larry Kirwan before he moved to the US, and he's written songs about it. He started paying these songs with a pipe player named Chris Byrne and a drumbox in little divey Irish bars (after a brush with mainstream music success fizzled), angering the traditionalists, but attracting several like minded musicians and New York thrill seekers until word of mouth had crowds packing their live shows.

since then, they've been striking their own path, taking their music directly to their fans rather than waste their energy battling corporate music, and meanwhile creating a paradigm for a successful musical lifestyle, that's not based on hits and record companies. Clear Channel my ass.

After several albums, they have way too much material to play all my favorites. But they blazed through 'Rockin the Branx' and 'Green sued Shoes' with blazing energy, barely slowing down. They had a new song, infused with -of all things- Jewish Hava Nagilah horn solos. Another new song, Rosemary, about an Irish legal activist who was murdered. “San Patricio Brigade”, “Fire of Freedom” and “I Got Laid on Jame Joyce's Grave” were all in great shape, although the Reels suffered from not having the Trinity Dancers join them, like they usually do.

And then it was time for “Funky Ceili”, “Like A Rolling Stone”, and all too soon, the band was done and hitting the bar. We talked with Larry Kirwan for a bit after. He's hoping they can swing a Summerfest show.

Go see 'em.

I Know What I Like

Sweet Cookie Jesus, I just paid the most for a concert ticket, by far, than I ever have in my life. I feel kinda like one of those lame boomer Rolling Stones fans who have forgotten everything about rock music, but will pay ridiculous amounts every couple of years to see Mick go through the motions again.



The other day, I was going through the near future in some good shows that I intend to get out and see. Add to that this one.




Although the show is Way-Off- it isn't until October. By then, I'll probably forget I have tix. Nah I won't.

FSM forgive me, but I popped for floor seats. I've never had really good seats for these guys, and it's probably about time. Might be the only time.




They have a press conference here. It's interesting, and Tony Banks, especially, says they want to play a number of hits, because that's what their largest numbers of fans are familiar with. You gotta forgive the guy, remember his formative years were devoted to pop music and singles in the 60's, and it's probably hard-wired into his motherboard as a measure of success.




You know, though, as long as they don't play “Illegal Alien” or “Babe”, I'll probably be OK.

What? That second one isn't Genesis? How do you know they haven't become a Styx cover band in the interim?





To Blue Girl's dismay, I'm betting they won't be playing Ripples. If we're lucky, we'll get a part of Los Endos.

The Day The Light Went Out

A couple of days ago, a friend emailed me this. It's the instructions he received from his IT department on updating his computer for the DST change.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) will begin this weekend (March 11th, 2007 at 2:00am). This is 3-weeks earlier than in previous years. DST will also end one week later this year (on 11/4/07 instead of 10/28/07). Since most computers do not recognize that Daylight Savings Time will begin this early or end a week later, an operating system patch was applied. Unfortunately, the patch supplied by Microsoft introduced an error in the way appointments are scheduled in Microsoft Outlook. Any appointment scheduled before the patch was applied on February 18th for any time in the 3/11/07 to 4/01/07 and 10/28/07 to 11/04/07 time frame has been rescheduled for one hour later. The impact of this error is dependent on the number of events a person has scheduled during this time period, the number of calendars a user maintains and whether or not you noticed the error and rescheduled the appointments back to their original time slot.

We have investigated and tested several resolutions for this problem. Unfortunately, an all-inclusive, automated fix that will guarantee that all appointments previously scheduled for these time periods will be returned to their correct time slot is not possible. However, we have identified three ways to deal with this problem. There are two factors to consider when selecting which resolution will work best for you. One factor is the number of events that you have scheduled during these time periods. The second factor is the number of manual corrections you have already made to your calendar if you noticed the error. The greater the number of manual modifications that have been made the more likely it is that you will NOT want to use the fix-it patch.

OPTION 1 is for users with only a few appointments schedued during the 3/11/07 to 4/1/07 and 10/28/07 to 11/04/07 timeframe

Review your calendar and manually adjust any appointments scheduled for the wrong time.

OPTION 2 is for users with many appointments and who have not adjusted any of them manually

Execute the Microsoft fix-it patch TZMOVE according to the instructions described below.

OPTION 3 is for users with many appointments and who have adjusted many of them manually

Because the Microsoft fix-it patch TZMOVE does not know the difference, all of the calendar events during the these time periods will be modified. You have two choices in this case: either run TZMOVE according to the instructions described below and then correct any appointments you already had corrected one more time OR finish manually adjusting events in these time periods.

All users. It is important to note that during this time period you may be receiving a number calendar changes from other users. Please accept these change notifications.

It is also important that you confirm your internal and external appointments with an email or phone call. This change is affecting Kohler Company as well as our vendors and customers. If you have any problems that you cannot resolve, please contact the Technology Service Center, Ext. 74357 or Toll Free: 1-800-992-1562.

TZMOVE Instructions:
Click Start
Click All Programs
Click Netinstall
Click Netinstall Interactive Installer
Click MS Productivity
Click the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Outlook application.
Click Install.
After the install is complete you can close down Netinstall

To run the TZMOVE tool do the following:
Click Start
Click All Programs
Click Microsoft Office
Click Microsoft Office Tools
Click Time Zone Data Update Tool for Outlook

#1 The following screen appears…Press OK



#2 The following screen appears indicating how many appointments it identified.... Press DETAILS




#3 The details of the calendar events are displayed. UNCHECK any appointments that you don’t want to update and then press OK.





Thank you for your patience and understanding on this issue. The Information Technology department understands the importance of calendars to our users. We made every attempt to make this resolution process as manageable as possible. Unfortunately, we could not find a resolution that left our users totally unaffected.

Res Publica has also published a well-informed rant about it at Republic of Dogs.

Most visitors here know my feelings on all things Microsoft, but I'm starting to feel bad for the people who are jsut forced to use them in the name of 'standardization' or 'conformity'. That's no way to live. i know my sitch is atypical - it's just a small office, and of course it's OSX and we don't use Outlook - but here's the sum total of what needed to be done today when I came in and fired up the computers:


...




Yeah, I actually forgot about it until I looked at the wall clock and noticed it said something different than my computer.

You'd like to think that after Y2K, people at MS had maybe tumbled to the idea that changes in time may have a wide ranging impact, and when these things come up, workarounds need to be investigated. Actually, my bet is that software engineers at MS knew this was going to come up, and had been trying to be allowed to solve the problem, but the idea got lost somewhere between the knowledge of the problem and somebody allocating a budget and time to fix it. or else, true Dilbert fashion, the fix had been scheduled for completion two to three months after today.

But take another look at that process up there. It represents how many hours of lost productivity in how many companies, businesses, and governments across America? All because some years ago, a software writer at MS decided that hardcoding the DST change was a good enough solution. And this decision becomes compounded by the monolithic dependency on Microsoft.

Good luck, folks.

Another Brick In The Wall

so named because it seems like some of the bricks in the stonewall of lying and obfuscation that Bush and Cheney have created are starting to fall. Not much, maybe, and it remains to be seen if the massive structure can be dismantled in any meaningful way before they exit stage left. But maybe cause for some hope.

Because the alternative is the dread of watching these men, who have left a trail of damage and destruction since taking office, govern for two more years as if they don't have anything to lose.

• Libby was found guilty of lying to a Grand Jury and obstructing justice. Will he flip? Or will the pardon come through first?
• The firing of several US Attorneys is being revealed to have been politically motivated, and the backwash is starting to suck at Al Gonzales.
• The dominoes of corrupt Republicans keep falling. Tom delay, Bob Ney, Abramoff, Scanlon, Duke Cunningham, Wooldridge, Domenici lawyering up,
• The Walter Reed scandal, which is nothing if not hideous. The worst? when Bill Young, republican from Florida and until recently Chairman of the House Appropriations Defense sub-Committee , explained it all by saying they knew about the conditions, but preferred to bring private pressure against the Army so there would be no adverse publicity. “We didn't want to embarrass the military”.

Look, many of us predicted these kinds of things. It wasn't like Bush didn't tell everyone exactly the sorts of things he was going to do. He lied about what the results would be, saying it would be kittens and ponies and candy for everyone, with sunshine every day. When in reality, the goal was money and power for the select few, and the back of the hand or the point of a boot for the rest of us, when we aren't performing services for our betters. Which is pretty much how it's come out, with the pleasant addition of explosives, war, and a massively destabilized world.

Dear departed Molly Ivins TOLD us all it would be like this in her book Shrub. She watched the six year trial run in Texas, and reported it in painful detail. So far, the only thing she hasn't accurately predicted was the start of war, which was not predictable (unless, of course, you just might have access to classified information such as the PDB titled “bin Laden determined to Strike In The US”.

How do you take down a huge masonry structure? Bit by bit.



so here are a dozen or so random slices of wall, maybe just enough to weaken and remove one more masonry unit. One at a time, friends and celery, one at a time.

26,501 songs by 759 artists. 102.13 gigs of noise.

1. Regarding Telephones from the album “The Premise Unraveled” by Vehicle Flips
2. Wah-Wah from the album “Besides” by Buffalo Tom Buffalo Tom at Shank Hall. That was a good one.
3. Going Down from the album “M.I.A.: The Complete Germs” by The Germs
4. It's Too Late from the album “Black Sheets of Rain” by Bob Mould Very close to stealing the opening riff from “Do Ya”
5. Grandma Went to Athens, Once from the album “Green Eggs and Crack” by Too Much Joy From their early days, when they still loved Lou Reed a bit too much. Or as singer Tim Quirk said, “I'm obviously using Lou Reed as an excuse to avoid singing.”
6. Dia De Los Muertos - Rezurex from the album “Give 'Em The Boot IV” by Various Artists - HellCat
7. Died 4 U from the album “C'est La Vie” by Marques Bovre & The Evil Twins Ahh, a great lost Madison band. These guys were so good, in an unassuming alt-country way, they deserved much wider recognition.
8. No Beer from the album “Green Eggs and Crack” by Too Much Joy Oh, now that's just frickin weird.
9. Pseudo silk kimono from the album “Misplaced Childhood” by Marillion
10. Martha Polka from the album “Polka Comes To Your Haus!” by Polkacide “Ready on the Left! Ready on the Right! OneTwoThreeFour!”

Polkacide is too good to let it just end, of course, so here's the bonus:

11. Lake of Fire from the album “Meat Puppets II (Bonus Tracks)” by Meat Puppets The original, not the quiet-y Nirvana unplugged version.
12. Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again from the album “Down To Promised Land: 5 Years Of Bloodshot Records [Disc 2]” by Nora O'Connor
13. Gloria from the album “Horses” by Patti Smith One of the classic opening couplets in rock n roll: “Jesus died for somebody's sins/ but not mine.”
14. Family Snapshot from the album “Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel ( III )” by Peter Gabriel
15. Shoot Your Way To Freedom from the album “Nova Mob” by Nova Mob



see ya.

GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!!

Had to diverge from the song-name titles for once to borrow an old Doonesbury tag. thx, Marvelous Mark, from teh Nixon days, and so appropriate it is, too.


Yes, today is the long fabled Day of Fitzmas. On which, we discover, that there are still honest men who work for the government, that our justice system CAN work, and that the Bush administration is filled with nothing but liars and petty vindictive assholes.

Okay, we already knew that last one.

The jury returned with a verdict of guilty on four out of five counts. So Libby is down to appeal, or bank on the pardon.

Personally, I wouldn't bank on the pardon. Wasn't it obvious that Scooter was being thrown under the bus?


But I remember the old days, when the rightosphere was atwitter with the injustice of it all, and how Libby's case would be thrown out (because there was no underlying crime was my personal favorite) or how the judge would dismiss. Or how it was much ado about nothing.

Nothing? Lying in the service of political payback. Maybe nothing in your world, buster, but a serious breach of what should be the inherent ethics of White House staffers.


So; nice job, Fitz. Keep yourself handy.

Johnny Strikes Up The Band

It's looking like an EXCELLENT spring for some music.

Because, you know, live music is best . Gotta support these guys; without local and live music, there wouldn't be any.

Often, I think the Muses are the only real reason for Mankind to even stand up out of the primordial ooze; everything else is just part of the support system. The drive to create opposes the tendency toward chaos; The joy of performing live music is special, and is conveyed by proximity to other people.

So let's all get off our fat asses, turn off these frickin computers, and be part of life. Suffice to say, I'm wanting to go to ALL of these. If possible, see you at some of them.


March 10: Shank Hall, Think Floyd. Mostly, I don't care much for cover bands. Oh, sure, Musical Box is kind of cool; but I've seen their repertoire now, and frankly, the second time you see the Foxtrot tour, is about all you'll ever need. Light Up was always fun, if you were stoned, and the U2 cover band does a nice job. But otherwise, what they hey? you might as well be at a wedding playing Proud Mary again.

But, having seen these guys twice at Summerfest, I am amazed at how well the Floyd stuff translates, or maybe how well these guys translate it. They are a Chicago band that really does honor the original material , but are also talented in their own right. Maybe it's just that there's such a wealth of material to play.

March 14: Black 47, Shank Hall. Ahhh.. One of my favorite live bands. Larry Kirwan, an expatriate Irishman, has been mixing up the New York sound for many years now, and is always in top form. Dashes of troubadour-style lyrices, punk, alt-rock, and hip-hop infuse the irish sound with an up to date flavor. Usually, the Trinity Dancers make an appearance for a couple of songs. When you look at their tour schedule, it's all New York and east Coast - and then Milwaukee. Thanks for stopping by! I will always go to watch these guys.

March 20th: Sebadoh, Shank hall. An offshoot from Dinosaur Jr., Lou Barlow has been mining the low-fi sound for years. An unmissable opportunity. Started with tape loops, and went into basement style alternative.

March 23rd: Silos, Points East Pub. An old alt-country band from the nineties, they were contemporaries of Vulgar Boatmen and Uncle Tupelo. In a newly remodeled pub. Should be great. Especially cool because they are now on Bloodshot Records, my favorite label.

Newly Announced:

April 20th: Cloud Cult, Shank Hall. Oh, man, another of my favorites. A nearly indescribable college-style alterna band from minneapolis. Last time, they played at the Cactus Club, and were so good. They perform with two live painters. They just released a new album, and I am totally there.


At this point, we are nearly at Summerfest. speaking of which:

They just announced the Fray at the Amphitheater, with OK Go opening. I like the OK Go album. So now they're going 2 for 3. Not so bad, so far, TK notwithstanding.


HEY. I got some seriously decent tickets for Roger Waters. Heh. I am stoked for that one; they are kind of steep, but how often do you get? Gotta go for it.


Ahh, really I just wanted to gloat a bit.



Hope to see you out there. Let me know if you're going to be at any of these.

Death of Drag Racer

Yes, it's the Friday Musical Snooters, NASCAR sucks Edition! Jeez, the most responses I ever get on a post, and it's about something I DIDN'T EVEN MENTION IN THE POST.

Sheesh.

Oh well, at least I didn't tell a fat joke. Because that would lead who knows where, but certainly nothing good would come of it. even if the fat guy was a complete tool.

On with the jokes about people with lame musical taste and bad haircuts instead!


Broke a threshold! 101 gigs of music, woot!!11!

That's 70 days, for those who still use real-world measurements.


1. This Is Ska from the album “Return Of The Ugly” by Bad Manners Crap, speaking of fatties, Buster Bloodvessel.
2. My Wife from the album “Elk-Lake Serenade” by Hayden
3. Green To Me from the album “Downward Is Heavenward” by Hum
4. Me Against Me from the album “Why We Fight” by John Wesley Harding
5. Sole Salvation from the album “Special Beat Service” by The English Beat more ska. it's kind of oldies day here.
6. This Dying Soul from the album “Train of Thought” by Dream Theater
7. Maybe Baby from the album “The Singles” by Tullycraft
8. Peaceable Kingdom from the album “Vapor Trails” by Rush
9. The Lie And How We Told It from the album “I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One” by Yo La Tengo I luuuurrrrrves me some YLT. Zelmo and I saw them with like fifty other people a while back. They were excellent, and I got thoroughly drunk.
10. Sadly Beautiful from the album “All for Nothing” by The Replacements


And it's the Sadly, No Memorial Bonus snootchy-bootchies!!1!1!11

11. Thru With The Two Step from the album “The Principle Of Moments” by Robert Plant This is actually from the recent Box Set. Which is really, really good. Who noticed Plant having a career after Led Zep?
12. Cheated from the album “Wha'Ppen” by The English Beat More Beat. WTF? 26,272 songs, 751 artists, and more Beat comes up. Some random.
12. Sleep from the album “High/Low” by Nada Surf
12. Dreamline from the album “Different Stages 2” by Rush
12. Burn On from the album “CD 1: The Studio recordings” by Randy Newman
12. Lions from the album “Dire Straits (Remastered)” by Dire Straits
12. The Call Up from the album “Sandinista! (Disc 2 of 2)” by The Clash
12. Sittin' Pretty from the album “Doo Dad” by Webb Wilder
12. Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid) from the album “Damn the Torpedoes (Reissue Remastered)” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers




Ooops, sorry. Looks like my player got stuck on 12 there.