I finally got to see one of my all-time favorite bands recently. I became an Old 97's fan after hearing one of their tunes playing on the stereo at Tir Na Nog after a Big Mama E show. Along with a tune by Matthew Sweet, I jotted some lyrics on the back of my setlist, and went to Google to look up who did the song. Turns out the tune was Singular Girl, which at the time was only available used, as it came on a second CD in a bonus version of Satellite Rides which had been release two years before. It took a couple of weeks to find a copy, buy it, and wait for it to be delivered, but from the Friday night that CD showed up, I have been totally in love with this band.

So I was thrilled, of course, to find out they were coming to Raleigh for one show of the 2008 Downtown Live series. The Connells were one of the opening acts (those of you who know me well know of the two 15 minutes of fame episodes the Connells have provided me)...so it was a totally rocking night. Both bands put on great shows, I ended up one row back from the front of the stage, and got some pretty good pics (note to Downtown Live staff....please let me bring my good camera. I had to make do with my cheap point-and-shoot, and the images are less than optimal).

I'll be posting at least one video of both bands eventually, but for now, here are the best images of the Old 97's set.

From the site:

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world's first high-definition image taking of an Earth-rise* by the lunar explorer "KAGUYA" (SELENE,) which was injected into a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km on October 18, 2007 (Japan Standard Time)

Here is one of the stunning images from the site:

Image linked from JAXA site

Credit: BoingBoing

Anyway, the hackers pissed me off, and so now I think I'm back. I'd gone off for a while because I had nothing interesting to say, but now I need to get back to posting, just for the hell of it.

So, you 733T HAXXORS......kiss my butt......

The above obituary was actually published in the Chicago Tribute recently and blogged on BoingBoing. Read it closely. When I finally die, I now have three wishes.

• Have a party, and hang the banner "So long, and thanks for all the fish" above my urn.


• Take my ashes to Yankee Stadium and a game against the Red Sox, wait for a critical play in the outfield, and dump my ashes on the unsuspecting Sox outfielder, allowing me to help my Yanks even in death.


• Make sure the highlighted line above appears in my obituary.

You just have to love the passion that would make someone want to print such a comment! And he gets to make one last political statement....

Sitting in the stands at Carter-Finley Stadium before the NC State-UNC football game, I can't help noticing how helpful the UNC coaching staff is. They've laid out a pad, numbered 1 to 10, right at midfield. Apparently UNC players are so illiterate, and counting to 10 is SO difficult, that the team needs to have this helpful guide.

Finally equipped Skylab with the latest in audio gadgetry....a brand new subsonic antenna. It's a well-known fact that if you want your car stereo to have that really deep low thumpy bass, you have to be able to pick up subsonic frequencies, which, as we all know, are so low they hug the ground . A subsonic antenna is properly mounted on the *side* of your car, pointing down, so that it penetrates the subsonic stream. I just mounted mine, and the results are stunning. Never has my car stereo had such deep penetrating bass. I've seen the looks of jealousy from my fellow drivers on the road as I cruise past.....rattling the windows of every car and store as I pass.

“I use paper, plastics, textiles and rubbish,” Christian Koch told Reuters.

“It’s an alternative fuel that is friendly for the environment. But it’s complete nonsense to suggest dead cats. I’ve never used cats and would never think of that. At most the odd toad may have jumped in.”

Read the rest of the story here.

My favorite web site, BoingBoing, updates its readers on the rise of Pastafarianism. In response to the Kansas State Board of Education's requirements that Intelligent Design be taught in the public schools alongside Evolution as a possible theory of the origins of life, members of the Church of the Flying Spagetti Monster are demanding equal time, stating:

"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."

In fact, in response to creationist Dr. Ken Hovind's offer of $250,00 to anyone who can prove the existance of evolution, BoingBoing offers:

"We are willing to pay any individual *$250,000 if they can produce empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster."

Visit the Church site and read what they have to say.

And just in case you *might* be on the fence about the whole evolution/creationism thing, read this article from Scientific American.

Now excuse me, I need to open a can of Franco-American Spagetti & Meatballs.....

This week I awoke to good news: The New Pornographers' new CD, Twin Cinema is due in late August. NPR had an "article" on finding a great summer anthem, and they played a tune off this CD. I wasn't awake enough to determine if I liked the song, but the mere news of a new CD from this band was enough to put me in a 24-hour happy place.

I found The New Pornographers during one of my "5 Degrees of Separation" searches on Amazon. One of Amazon's great features is the "People who bought this also bought" links. So periodically, I'll look up a favorite CD on Amazon, go to the "People who bought this also bought" section, and follow the links. Once I find a couple of bands that have reviews that indicate that I might like the band, I fire up my favorite peer-to-peer program (Limewire) and download several tunes. I burn them to a CD, listen to them for a week or so in my car and at work, and if I like the tunes, I buy the CD (note to the RIAA: I have about 20 songs that I've downloaded "illegally" [I don't own the corresponding CD]. I have bought probably 50 CDs by first "illegally" downloading some music, listening to it, and going out and buying the CD....so, morons, you're shooting yourself in the foot by banning the peer-to-peer networks). During this particular search, I found The New Pornographers and Fountains of Wayne directly off links from my favorite CD of all time: They Might Be Giants' John Henry.

The New Pornographers hail from Vancouver, Canada. I won't try to describe them, other than to say that they are a quirky alt-pop band and I really like them. They have two tunes from the new CD available for download: Use It and the title song Twin Cinema. Download these two songs, give them a listen, and then run out and buy the CD!

And, just in case you really liked those two songs above and you're interested, The New Pornographers are scheduled to come to the Triangle in mid-October: they are playing at the Cats Cradle on October 16! I'm pretty darn excited!

Editorial Rant:
I've pretty much given up on local radio. My last bastion of hope, 96Rock, abandoned their morning show and started running John Boy and Billy, yet-another-crappy-syndicated-morning-show, last last summer. The old 96Rock morning DJs weren't great, but at least they played music I occasionally liked, and didn't spend overt amounts of time doing stupid stunts or pontificating. They told me Cake had a new CD coming, they told me that they were sponsoring Everclear playing a free show on Moore Square....this was information that made waking up a much more positive experience. Once John Boy and Billy took over, I heard morons babbling incessantly, literally NO MUSIC; and so I gave up listening to 96Rock. I tried RDU, but their morning show sucked too. And there was NO WAY I would ever listen to Bob "Dumbass" Dumas on G105. And so, since I was doomed to listen to "talk radio" in the morning, I tuned to WUNC and NPR. At least I could here intelligent conversation, and the occasional interesting article.

It's been a long time since I've been in the studio. As the guy on the board, there is a hella lot to remember. Arm this track, disarm those tracks, remember to turn the control room off in the studio headphones while the guys are playing.... and to make it all worse, on some tracks we're recording an instrument in one track but playing back a different instrument on that same track. It still hasn't become automatic..... glad the guys are being patient with me.

It is, however, an honor to hang with these guys. To say that they rock is to understate the obvious. But it's more than that. I've worked with A LOT of talented musicians, but I've never been around a group of talented people who could set their egos aside like these guys can. They have fun together, and it makes the creative process of building recordings all that much more satisfying.

So stay tuned. More great Big Mama E & The Cool tunes are on the way!

I'm excited, and happy to get the process over with so I can dump Earthlink.

Oh yeah, TCH with 1 gig is half the price of Earthlink with 300 megs. Go figure.

My wife adopted this cat when she was a tiny kitten. We had no idea we'd adopted the Goodyear Blimp®

This is a pic I took of Mark Martin's "Viagra Mobile" parked inside Exploris. Big Mama E played at the opening of the IMAX NASCAR film, and this car was there too.