Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of Chaka · Sep 26, 05:45 AM by Chaka
Here’s a fun exercise to try on a Republican or other Christofascist. Ask them this – why again was it we were so pissed off at the French? You know, freedom fries, ‘old Europe’, that shit?
Holy domestic violence, Batman – just under a minute to play, it’s third and eight, and you’re trying to run out the clock on the road, up by a touchdown. Granted, a first down seals it for you, but down-and-distance doesn’t make that a likely proposition, and simply taking a knee and then punting will leave your opponents with at least 80 yards to cover in about thirty seconds without the benefit of a single timeout. The call from Coach McCarthy’s Ghost? Run off tackle. The result? An unthinkable fumble, and a new lease on life for the Charlie Browns of the NFC Norris. Given a chance to walk away from the potential grave he has dug for himself in his post-game press conference, McCarthy chooses to climb onto a diving board and dive straight into that grave, revealing he actually considered passing on that down.
Speaking of mental illness, any Lions fans out there have any insight into what kind of unspeakable horrors Matt Millen has photodocumentation of on the Ford family? It most certainly has to involve children, that’s for sure. Remember the so-called ‘worst draft pick in NFL history’, Tom Braatz’s selection of Tony Mandarich with the second overall pick in 1989? Now look at Millen’s drafts with the Lions. He not only wasted the #2 pick overall (Charles Rogers, 2003) – he’s also wiped his ass with the #3 pick overall (Joey Heatherton, 2002) and is well on his way to blowing his nose with the #10 pick overall (Mike Williams, 2005, who didn’t get a pass thrown his way Sunday until after the affirmative action-enabled Mike Furrey had at least two crucial drops). The guy’s got a highly explosive gas tank inches away from his flimsy bumper, yet the Fords continue to pay him to fuck their franchise over again and again. Can somebody explain this to me? When will the Fords finally get rid of Millen so he can get a job with the Bush administration where he belongs?
George Bush – the charges-of-violatin’-the-Geneva-Convention-defendin’-est President there done ever was.
I saw The Strokes open for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers a week or so ago. I’d never seen the Strokes, and they seemed a little dispirited by the Bud Light-suburbanities (hey, I can relate), but I dug them a lot – their guitar players are fantastic. Their drummer, who dates one of the daughters from Gimme a Break or some shit, was a total waste of a drum riser though and The Strokes could really take the old cliche of a band only being as good as their drummer to heart.
Maybe this is a story I shouldn’t share, but speaking of Gimme a Break, back when I was with Twin/Tone I got to be friendly with Grant Hart, the source of many great stories of mine. Anyway, he told me once that when he was in inpatient rehab at Hazelden back in the 80s one of his fellow patients was Nell Carter. Think about that one for a minute.
Back to the Petty show. Not much to say really about his set – it was pretty much exactly what you’d expect, although Stan Lynch was sorely missed; newish Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone messily cluttered up nearly every number with his unnecessarily busy drumming.
And what in the fuck happened to Mike Campbell’s hair? I mean, honestly, somebody’s got to take him aside and tell him.
It is with great regret that I must report that my Greatest Summer of Live Music Ever is finally over. There are plenty of good shows still on the calendar coming up (the fucking Slits!!) but with the Petty/Strokes show I turned the page on a phenomenal run of seeing 61 bands in 84 days. Indulge me in a little scorekeeping.
Magna Cum Laude
Big Black, Calexico, Danielson, Erase Errata, Flaming Lips, Futureheads, Jose Gonzalez, Mission of Burma, New Pornographers, Quasi, Ray Davies, Richard Thompson, Yo La Tengo
Good, Not Great
Amadou et Mariam, Art Brut, Cat Power, !!!, The Ex, The Go! Team, Kanye West, Lady Sovereign, Man or Astro-man?, The New Year, Of Montreal, Sally Timms, Scratch Acid, Seam, Seu Jorge, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, The Streets, The Strokes, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, TWL
Distinctions Not Cost Effective
Arcwelder, The Boredoms, Destroyer, Ghostface Killah, The Gossip, Iron & Wine, Jens Lekman, Joan Jett, Kings of Leon, Negative Approach, Os Mutantes, Raconteurs, Roky Erickson, Shellac, The Shins, Silkworm, Spoon, Tara Jane O’Neil, The National, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Uzeda
Not Even A Mother Could Love
Aesop Rock, Built to Spill, Pegboy, Silver Jews, Ween
mp3: Kate & Anna McGarrigle – The Swimming Song
mp3: Bob Dylan – Summer Days
mp3: Husker Du – Celebrated Summer
...that rarest of phenomena – a good post-A&M Husker Jr. track!
mp3: Soul Asylum – Summer of Drugs
mp3: Yo La Tengo – The Summer
I always wondered if Georgia & Ira had been listening to this number when they wrote “The Summer”...
mp3: The Only Ones – Lovers of Today
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Touch & Go photo action Sufjan Stevens entrances many, baffles some
ooh, The Only Ones. Haven’t heard them in quite a while. Have any more? Thanks.
— joe Sep 26, 07:16 PM #
The Only Ones indeed were amazing, for two albums’ worth, anyway. ‘That junkie shit’, as Westerberg called them (‘course, he went on to cover ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’). Plus, they were the only first-gen punk rock band featuring a member that wore a mustache.
The choice blog Moog Power posted their complete two-disc CBS anthology a while back… check here: http://moogpower.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_moogpower_archive.html.
Glad you dug it!
xo, Chaka
— Chaka Sep 26, 07:23 PM #