Get your torches and pitchforks ready . . .

Huey Lewis and The News are back from the dead and terrorizing a town near you in '08!

AM Gold loses a little glitter

Peoria native and soft rocker Dan Fogelberg died this weekend.

Bjork to the future...

Tech Video of the Week

As Bjork continues her world tour, many people have noted the very unusual instrument on stage that looks like a glass table with a number of glowing toys being pushed around.

It is, in fact, an amazing new instrument called the Reactable, that was developed by music engineers in Spain. Like Microsoft's Surface computer, it uses a table-top screen that reacts to touch. But it goes beyond that, turning the complex sound mixing board into an intuitive visual interface.
From Towleroad (Towleroad.com)

Chicago School of Rock builds, tears down, "The Wall"

Spent yesterday afternoon at Schuba's listening to the Chicago School of Rock perform Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

The kids are very talented, and are being molded into bonafied rock stars under the guidance of Ethan and staff. Here's bit of "Comfortably Numb" from yesterday.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

1979-2006: A HipHop Odyssey

800 classic HipHop tracks from 1979-2006 in a 48 minute mix. Courtesy of the BBC. Download it here. Pretty cool. You can take a look at the listing before you download it. It's probably not for everyone.

Lost Someone

God must be throwing one hell of a birthday party for baby Jeebus today, with a new main attraction.

God bless, Brother James.

At all of the nightclubs that I played records at, with all of the different styles of music played at each, there was one common favorite. James Brown clearly transcended all musical genres.

Yet Another Nonagon Show!

At The Note in Wicker Park. Saturday, Sept. 30th. Show starts around 9:30pm... we are the headliners! Read the extended entry for more info and a poster...

Continue reading "Yet Another Nonagon Show!" »

Hard To Handle

Graf: Do you think Firedog will hear some song we sing but change the lyrics to and think, "Hey, that's the ____ song!"

Me: I was thinking about that the other day, actually. I was listening to the Toots & The Maytals version of "Hard To Handle" and thought there's a lot of people who just think that's a Black Crowes song. Then I was thinking about what songs Firedog will be listening to when he's a teenager or something, and some new artist will cover some song from 20 years ago, and he'll think it's something totally new.

Graf: Yeah, and we'll have to say, "No! You've got to hear the ORIGINAL Givin' Up The Nappy Dugout. That's waaaaay better!"

Pazen is a Whiteboy

But, of course, we already knew that.

Continue reading "Pazen is a Whiteboy" »

Sellaband

Interesting concept. Pimp your favorite struggling local band, invest a little dough, and get a cut if they succeed.

Proudly Selling Out for Andrew

Here I am making good on a dare to wear Andrew's "Still Believing the Lies" shirt at a Nonagon gig. More documentation here.

Nonagon at The Note

Saturday, August 5TH 2006
9PM * 21+

FROM MONUMENT TO MASSES (from San Francisco, CA)
NONAGON (from Chicago, IL)
DRIFTLESS PONY CLUB (from Madison, WI)
1908 (from Waukegan, IL)

The Note
1565 N. Milwaukee, Chicago

Continue reading "Nonagon at The Note" »

Syd Barrett: Dead

Syd Barrett, one of the original members of legendary rock group Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60 from complications arising from diabetes.

Some of his solo stuff is pretty tough to take, but man, like Pink Floyd, dude!

...where's my bong...?

700 West

Between 1972 and 1983 dozens of singles and albums were recorded at Moe Whittemore's New Palestine, Indiana-based 700 West Studios.

Today, many of these records sell amongst collectors for hundreds of dollars. You, however, may browse through the catalog and listen to some tracks here, for free!

Moooooo & Oink

If you're an Average Homeboy w/ a Casio SK-1...get in on this jingle contest for Chicago's very own, Moo & Oink!

(Yet Another) Shameless Plug

Nonagon live in Chicago on Friday night at the Reversible Eye Gallery.
Metromix | Poster and Details

Also we will be playing with Dianogah in Milwaukee on Saturday (more info).

Continue reading "(Yet Another) Shameless Plug" »

Michael Fuckin' Anthony

Is it bad that thru this entire thing I was thinking "break a string...break a string..." He's like a bass-playing plumber.

Thanks Chris, you bastard.

Heaven Knows I'm Miserabler (sic) Now

I am officially throwing in the towel... or maybe I should just throw a rotten tomato instead. unggggggh. Someone please tell me that this is mothersbaugh's subversive way of getting back at all the spuds who hated devo back in the day.

Looks like Booji Boy sold out to the mouse. De-Evolution? Try reductio ad absurdum...

Another form of copy protection

Things rarely typed into an online music-sharing forum^*

"Dude, you got that new CHUMBAWAMBA?"

^*I'm not even certain if such a thing exists, although I'd imagine it does.

You gotta choose one

Which would you rather have stuck in your head?

My Humps or Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer?

Merry Chrismahanawazadan everyone!

Free Live Music this Saturday...

Nonagon and Snaklab All-Tsars at Hotti Biscotti in Logan Square. No cover, cheap beer, free earplugs, and a screening of Peter Greenway's The Draughtman's Contract beforehand (8:30pm). Saturday, October 22nd. Music starts at 10:30pm. Read more to see the official flyer...

Continue reading "Free Live Music this Saturday..." »

Nonagon at the Empty Bottle...

My band, Nonagon, will be opening up for Dianogah and Archeology at the Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western Ave.) on Saturday, July 9th at 10pm. The door charge is $8.

Nine Inch Nails vs. GarageBand

Nine Inch Nails have released one of the songs, "The Hand That Feeds " from the forthcoming With Teeth CD in Apple GarageBand format so everyone can create their own remixes. The 70 meg file is available for download now.

http://www.nin.com/current/index.html

I'm downloading it now. :-)

We Stand As One

America, We Stand As One. As you watch this, you'll be wondering, "When is the ironic twist gonna happen that assures us that this is all a joke?" But, alas, 'tis not a joke.

Chemical Brothers get the DIY Remix treatment

Following the latest trend in the music world, a couple of guys decided to remix the entire new Chemical Brothers CD, Push The Button, and offer it up free to download.

Download individual tracks from their website
http://www.chemicalbrothersremixed.com/

Grab the BitTorrent file here to download the entire Flip The Switch remix album.

Now back our regularly scheduled idiocy:

http://www.pootah.com/

Lohan Freestyle

A flash music video tribute to Lindsay Lohan and her "big ass titties".

Worst Album Covers Ever

Check out these nuggets of... well, it aint gold. The best of the worst.

via Brian B.

Nonagon at the Bottom Lounge this Thursday

Well it looks like the swell folks at MP Productions and The Bottom Lounge liked us well enough to make us their Johnny-on-the-spot... no, not the portable toilet... Rather, a last minute addition to an AMAZING bill at The Bottom Lounge THIS WEEK!

The Bottom Lounge is located at 3206 N. Wilton (right underneath the Belmont Red/Brown line El Stop)

On Thursday, December 2^nd, the doors will open at 8PM. Shortly after that, we (Nonagon) will play a set similar to the one we played a couple of weeks ago (unless we can throw together a surprise or two). I think that Behold! The Living Corpse is up next, then Pines, a local instrumental combo, and finally Big Business featuring ex-Karp and Murder City Devils members!

Oh yeah! To the left should be a snapshot of the (can I say "kick-ass"?) poster that Jay Ryan designed and Mat Daly printed for us. If you haven’t yet been to The Bird Machine, you are missing out.

Jon Stewart For President?

Morrissey, yes that Morrissey, would like us all to consider "Jon Stewart for a future president of the USA. In the meantime, he would like us to all vote for John Kerry to "bring sanity and intelligence back to the United States".

Read the full Morrissey endorsement here

Sammy Salsa!

To celebrate Sammy Sosa's 2 HRs (including a grand slam) in the Cubs 13-5 win today - why not learn the Sammy Salsa line dance?

Shameless Self Promotion

Got any plans for this weekend? Howza 'bout rounding up the gang and heading down to Champaign/Urbana for some hot rock action! Come see Nonagon, Triple Whip and The Idle Hours for a measly 3 bucks at Boneyard Pottery in Champaign, IL (403 South Water Street) on Saturday, September 18th at 8pm.

Nonagon (pictured above) is Robert Gomez-Bass, Tony Aimone-Drums and John Hastie-Guitar,vox. This will be our second show. Our first show was a rousing success, at least with one of the four 11 year-olds in attendence that evening. We will most likely be playing first, so you might want to get there late so you can miss us and just groove on the other two bands.

Fight Songs

Welcome to the "LARGEST" College Football Fight Songs in the World almost all in MP3 format. There are over 575 MP3's and a few AU files.

QTip's

Jpeg, what's yer fight song sound like?

Can you give a brutha an AMEN!

You Have Bad Taste In Music

Yet another reason the terrorists hate us

I'm not sure how, but I'm certain we're responsible for this.

Thanks Ryan, I think.

Ray Charles is dead

He died at his home after problems with his liver. I wouldn't shed a single tear for Reagan, but I was sad to hear about Ray. Even with the ofay white chorus, his aching version of "You don't Know Me" is pretty tremendous.

He was 73.

You give your hand to me and then you say hello
And I can hardly speak, my heart is beating so
And anyone could tell, you think you know me well
But you don't know me

No you don't know the one who dreams of you at night
And longs to kiss your lips and longs to hold you tight
To you I'm just a friend, and that's all I've ever been
No, you don't know me

You give your hand to me and then you say good-bye
I watch you walk away beside the lucky guy
To never, never know the one who loves you so
No, you don't know me

Vinyl Preservation Project

In my never ending quest to own as many Hawaiian steel guitar records as humanly possible, I came across this absolutely in-freaking-credible site. Tons of complete records (of all types) available for streaming download, skips, scratches and all. Requires Real Player.

Continue reading "Vinyl Preservation Project" »

Beatallica

Like Dread Zepplin or El Vez this band specializes in morphing songs together. Namely, the Beatles and Metallica. The singers got the Hetfield "eee yeAAah" down pat. Lots of MP3.

Some Song titles: Everybody's Got a Ticket to Ride Except for Me and My Lightning, ...And Justice For All My Loving and Blackened the USSR

Malpractice

Remember this diagnosis:

"I called the doctor on the telephone
Said Doctor, Doctor, please
I got this feeling
rocking and a'reeling
tell me, what can it be, is it some new disease?

They call it Boogie fever
You got to boogie down
Boogie fever, I think it's going around"

Well, apparently, it was really lung cancer.

Jay-Z Construction Set

The Jay-Z Construction Set is a toolkit with all of the necessary software and raw materials to create a new remix of Jay-Z's Black Album.

See, rather than fight this trend, I think Jay-Z should come out in support of it. It's like the next logical Information Wants To Be Free-esque step to the Tupac / B.I.G. phenomena of releasing more albums posthumously than they ever did while alive, only Jay-Z ain't dead! He still gets to be one rich mofo with a hot girlfriend!

Stop poking me!

Madonna's new song is called Love Profusion. (Video here.) Last night I slipped up and it described it as Love Protrusion. I like that title better. Sounds more like old-school, smutty Madonna.

A Little Kiss

If you like the band Kiss, or just think they are silly, you'll really dig this shit. Miniature Kiss rock out in LA.

Speakin' of the Beastie Boys...

What's up with the news lately using Beastie Boys instrumental tracks as background music?

(Beastie Boys cleared in sampling case.)

Audiopad

That's some crazy messed up Star Trek shit right there, boy...

via Coudal

Suicide Onstage?

"They'd rather have an assisted suicide, but because of the way the laws are written, they can't do it," [the singer] said in an interview Wednesday morning... "So, bringing dying with dignity to the forefront is really what it's all about."

"If it's a stunt, then they have very right to perform this stunt on stage," a city council member added. "If somebody loses their life, they will be prosecuted as conspirators."

Q sez they got an act, but it ain't G.G. Allin

Eye candy

What's Thursday without a little Gwar photo gallery browsing?

K-Luv, bringin' the smackdown from the RIAA

Everyone, duck and cover, and deny deny deny.

Karen has unleashed the Unholy RIAA Dogs of Hell upon herself by gettin' all uppity in one of dem mainstream weekly news publications.

Karen Keenan, 26, a copywriter in Chicago, downloads regularly from iTunes Ñ but also from free file sharer LimeWire. "I have the same moral problem with sharing digital music that I have with public libraries Ñ i.e., none," she says.

Hang on, someone's at the door...aaaaahhhh!!!!!

Johnny Cash: The Man Came Around

'Till armageddon no shalam no shalom Then the father-hen will call his chickens home The wise men will bow down before the throne And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns When the Man comes around

_{Actor John Ritter Dies Too}

It's Apple vs. Apple in Court

Reportedly, Applecorps has filed a lawsuit in London against the computer firm over a 22-year-old agreement that Apple Computer use the Apple name only for computer products--not music-related enterprises.

Apparently Applecorp looks upon the digital music machinations--iPod and iTunes--of the Cupertino,Calif.-based computer firm none too kindly.

CD Price Drop From Universal

When CDs first were introduced we were always promised the price would eventually drop as the technology became cheaper. Well, nearly 25 years later Universal has finally annouced it is lowering the (wholesale) price of CDs to around $9.09, with the stated intension of eventually bringing the MSRP down to $10! Hopefully the other majors will soon follow suit. I dunno 'bout you guys, but I'd gladly plop down $10 for a CD rather than pay to download a bunch of warbly MP3s from iTunes. I'm no audiophile, but I have flexi-discs from the 70s that have better sound quality than even high bit-rate mp3.

Ef ets nae Scottish ets crrrraaaaappp!

Gospel originated in the Hebrides. Word is bond.

In unrelated Scots news, check out Sexy Kilt Boat Guy. WTF? Gotta get me a boat...

via one.point.zero

Radiohead - Go To Sleep video (Quicktime)

Cashing In, Cashing Out

OK, so I'm not il Postino the Music Guru, but here's some interesting stuff...

Johnny Cash has had about as interesting a life as any musician could hope to have, and while he's an acquired taste, there's probably something in his catalog for everyone.

Hobbled by a neurological disorder, his voice worn from years of (ab)use, and coming off the death of his wife this summer, Cash stands nominated for 6 VMA's for his video "Hurt". Strange as it might seem for Cash to be singing a Nine Inch Nails song, when paired with the video it's sort of moving. Check it out, it's pretty cool (it's also 9mb).

If it's celebrity dead pool you want to play, sadly my money's on Warren Zevon. Only a few of his songs got regular airplay, but the guy cracks me up. On his most recent tour Bob Dylan played one or two Zevon songs each night. Zevon included Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door" on his last album; it ships tomorrow.

If all of this shite is too depressing, please watch this.

My New Fave Summer Jam!

Download Junior Seinor's "Move Your Feet" here, the cutest little video ever!

Donkey Kong Does Van Halen

Someone with M.A.M.E., Van Halen's 1984 CD and too much time on their hands has crafted this tribute to that most essential video gaming ability: jumping.

iTunes Music Store: 275,000 songs purchased in 18 hours

Wow.
(via Gil)

See also: iTunes Music Store and credit card micropayments. Interesting.
(via more like this)

Tha Row Hit With Wrongful-Death Suit

The mother of a Los Angeles woman allegedly killed and partially eaten by aspiring Texas rapper Antron Singleton (aka Big Lurch) has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Tha Row Records and others, Billboard Bulletin reports.

Singleton, 27, allegedly killed and mutilated his 21-year-old roommate, Tynisha Ysais, on April 10, 2002, following a night of drug use. A medical examination of Singleton's stomach after his arrest found human flesh, according to reports. Singleton is awaiting trial on charges of murder and torture.

Bumper Sticker Patriots

UPDATE: Q rounds out the multimedia experience for us.

Your Flag Decal (mp3 stream)

via more like this

War kills Edwin Starr

He warned us, and we wouldn't listen: Nothing but a heartbreaker. Giving only to the undertaker. The lesson is clear - U.S. out of Iraq before Gladys Knight kicks!

Flying sheep's head fractures fan's skull at concert

"The band, part of Norway's death metal music scene, was carving up a dead sheep as part of its stage act when the animal's head flew off lead singer Maniac's knife and struck 25-year-old Per Kristian Hagen." (via Popshot.net)

On a related heavy metal note, check out Strongbad's latest creation, Trogdor: the Burninator. There's also a Trogdor video game elsewhere on the site.

Beastie Boys: In A World Gone Mad

Not their best work, but c'mon, it's an anti-war rap, fer cryin' out loud.

Highlights? "Courvoisier," "tarnation" and "Zoolander" all manage to make it into the lyrics.

Just glad to hear they're recording.

via boing boing

Girl Emerges from Coma During Bryan Adams Concert

A young woman left in a coma for six years after she collapsed at school has started to respond to the world around her after her mother took her to see her pop star hero Bryan Adams perform live.

_{Q sez her first words were, "Turn that shit off!"}

Deeper into the "Shadow World" of Song-Poem Music

But if song-poem records are so worthless, so debased, so utterly forsaken, then what is it about them that provides such delight to the genre's legions of fans? In what way do these records rise above their tarnished origins as the products of such a debauched process?

So completely wrong...

Major Music Labels Use Artificial Intelligence To Help Determine "Hitability" Of Music

If you thought it would be impossible to make mass music any more flat and uncreative, think again. This program is sure to do the job. Take all the uniqueness and human idiosyncracies out of pop music and replace it with market-proven pop algorithms through the magic of machine logic.

Kill me now.

via Jim MacGregor

Bruuuuuucccccce!

The Smoking Gun presents Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band's tour rider, including "...sax player Clarence Clemons's need for a whole roasted chicken to be delivered, mid-concert, to his dressing room..."

Get comfy for this one: it's eight pages long.

via fark

John Cage rockin' from beyond the grave

Halberstadt organ fans keep on rockin'

via matty fatty pasta face [in LA]

Click Here, make $20

A class action lawsuit has been brought by the attorneys general of 43 states, who charged that the industry's five largest labels engaged in a five-year campaign to fix CD prices.

If you bought a recording from a retailer between 1995 and 2000, it's definitely worth a visit to the site. You could wind up $20 richer just by filling out a claim form.

The application window closes March 3, 2003.

Making Chester Cheetah look like a punk-ass bitch

The marketing geniuses at Universal Records have created Rapsnacks, slapping their artists (Nelly, Master P, and Lil Romeo, among others) where they've never bling-blinged before: on snack bags.

Be sure to view the intro

We Now Join the Ninnies at The RIAA

- snip -

But the RIAA seems to be having a few problems with the facts itself.

Yesterday it issued a press release announcing a piracy bust in New York which unearthed 421 CD-R burners.

Only there weren't 421 burners, but "the equivalent of 421 burners."

In fact, there were just 156. How did the RIAA account for this discrepancy?

"There were only 156 actual burners, but some run at very high speeds: some as high as 40x. This is well above the average speed," was the official line yesterday.

- snip -

Convoy = Mannheim Steamroller

Like most musical acts, C.W. McCall ("Convoy") toured the country, with Bill singing the words of C.W. and the "Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant Boys" playing the music. In reality, the "Boys" were Chip Davis and an eclectic mix of musicians, who spent their non-C.W. McCall time recording albums of Chip's music. Chip was a pioneer of "New Age" music, and his albums, recorded under the group name of "Mannheim Steamroller", were also successful. But the fact that Chip Davis was the music behind C.W. McCall was not a well-known fact.

Andrew, this one's for you...

yet another moment of silence

Mary Hansen of Stereolab, killed Monday in an accident while riding her bicycle.

Thanks for the music, M.

via launch

READ: Interpreting Bjšrk

Interpretations of Bjšrk songs for a compilation which never saw the light of day. Quite well done. The only song I recognized is It's Oh So Quiet but I'm a bit of a fossil when it comes to Bjšrk.

Joan Jett Is Really Pissed at Rolling Stone

I tried to find some cleverly worded way to express my disgust with your "Women in Rock" issue, but what i have to say is really quite simple: You guys are completely retarded.

By RS standards, Rock is no longer a style of music but a trendy costume to be whipped up by expensive stylists and slapped onto the latest pop tart barbie doll. Give a girl some tight pants and a spiky bracelet and POOF! She ROCKS!

Maybe I'm just in the right mood

but Beck's "Sea Change" is a damn good album.

A Postmodern Analysis of Beastie Boys' "Shadrach"

Slightly over thought:

Hyperreality, the copying of images that are themselves copies, and the equating of images and their underlying content, is also present in "Shadrach." One example is "I've got the girlies in the coupe like the Colonel's got the chickens." (38) The Beastie Boy who raps this is demonstrating his romantic prowess - how many young women he has in his car, fawning over him. Yet the comparison in this simile of excess is not an example of a real-world romantic success, not even an example of real-world excess in anything. The comparison is to how chickens are ubiquitous in the media-created image of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders, who is designed to sell cooked chicken.

The members of Beastie Boys refer to themselves and their song repeatedly, both in order to boast about their skills and to demonstrate their relationship to the rest of the rap community. Many other references of diverse are made in the song - to political and cultural figures, images that are themselves references, and other rap and rock-'n'-roll songs. These samples are stitched together to create a diverse postmodern pastiche.

Jam Master Jay, 1965-2002

Music Industry Seeks Permission to Sabatoge Sharing Sites

They want to fuck with you, file swappers!

Lance Bass offered proposition by the Nuge

The always-controversial rocker states that Bass should "be taught a greater appreciation for nature and gravity as he hunts, kills, cleans and cooks for himself. Bass needs to quit worrying about going into outer space and embrace and celebrate life by learning how to kill his own food.

CD Prices Drop as the Industry Figures out
Consumers Won't Pay $18

When the CD arrived in the mid-1980s, many industry voices said the new format would be cheaper to produce than LPs and tape cassettes (and, indeed, it costs about 40 cents to make a CD, and the packaging adds 25 cents to that) and that the savings would be passed on to consumers.

That of course never happened...

2 years ago, a Federal Trade Commission inquiry prodded the recording industry to abandon a practice that authorities said was a not-so-subtle attempt at price fixing.

That practice also led New York's attorney general, to file a lawsuit in August 2000 against the major labels and largest retail chains. Twenty-nine other states joined the lawsuit, which has cited consumer damages of $480 million because of alleged price fixing. A settlement will probably be announced this month.

The world's most ghetto clothing line...

"You know how you put your gun in your waistline and you gotta worry about it slipping? With these clothes, you don't got to worry about that. It's already in there!" Thank you, Beanie Sigel!

via zena

No Space For Lance

Nyet!

Put up or shut up now stands at "shut up".

David Hasselhoff's appeal.... explained!

If you've been laying awake nights wondering why David Hasselhoof is a big European rockstar and you're not, here's the reason.

Band Photos!

German yes, but I like it too!

via metafilter

Extreme Elvis

Really, words cannot describe. Just go read it. Here's a sample to whet your appetite:

"The audience starts to freak, and I began to realize that I was watching something brilliant.

First off, hereÕs a fat guy who literally has one of the smallest cocks in the history of mankind, and he canÕt wait to get in front of a drunken crowd and show it to them.
A kick ass band surrounds him, and heÕs doing an Elvis impression.
And heÕs fucking good."

via Interrobang

Chicago Cinema/Orchestra Multimedia Interaction of Film and Music

chicago sound/vision is a group of local filmmakers and musicians devoted to the multi-media interaction of film and music, working together to create new and original works of art. Musicians perform both improvised and scored accompaniment to tradtitional and modern approaches of filmmaking and projection. Our first show is July 27 @ the Hideout.

~Fred Lomberg-Holm (Peter Brotzmann Tentet, Lofty Pillars, Terminal 4) Performs his score to "Mysterious Island of Dancing women" by John McGeehan.

Festivities start at 9:30. I think I'm also going to catch the My Reality:Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday. I hear they have a art-o-mat machine there now. Don't go 'round artless!

Me: "What's the difference between Lil Bow Wow and Lil Romeo?

Pazen: "About two inches."

Chelvis: King of Wok & Roll

The story of Chelvis: The Chinese Elvis, takes place on a dark and stormy night in 1975. In a San Francisco hospital room laid a newborn, born that morning. The newborn was a boy, a chinese boy. He was normal in every sense of the word, delivered on time and was of healthy weight.

As the boy was asleep in the hospital nursery, there was a blackout. When the lights turned back on, the nurses noticed something had happened. It was a mystery that is still unsolved to this day. The boy had magically lost his diaper and was wearing a white jumpsuit with a gold plated belt buckle. Emblazoned on the belt buckle was one single word. That word was Chelvis.

Celine Dion Kills iMacs!

If the caterwauling screams of her 'music' don't drive you to madness, it seems that Celine's new CD has copy-protection that muddles the firmware in an iMac.

Apple offers this fix, but the German Geek Patrol says that Sharpie Markers and Post-It Notes will do the trick, a link worth visiting if only for the Google translation.

In any case, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 says that tampering with copy-protection is a crime.

I now present the first criminal act ever (as far as I know) on House8:

50 worst albums of all time

Rolling Stone has posted the result. Sadly noone over there cares about usability, so you have to toggle through the list one record at a time. Tedious.
Dumbasses!

Corporate IT Anthems

Unfortunately, these are not a joke.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers' "Downright Global"^* is about as painful as their logo...

* Not to be confused with "Your World". Yes, they have two. An alarming number of companies have multiple "anthems." And remixes.

via NPR

Mambo #5, Iraqi Dance Remix (stream)

(lyrics and art by the one and only pazen. Sing along!)

1,2,3,4,5, Geo. Bush wants me dead or alive...

I like criminals, murderers, terrorists & cheaters,
and as I continue, you know it gets sweeter...

A little bit of Syria, in my life
A little bit of Jordan, by my side
A little bit of Yemen, is what I see
A little bit of Kuwait, all I need

A little bit of anthrax, in the sun
A little scud missile, all night long
so come on Junior, here I am
ain't scared of you, cuz I'm the man

Destiny's Child Defends New Song

NEW YORK ÐÐ Destiny's Child's new single "Nasty Girl," which chastises scantily clad women and tells them to "put some clothes on," may seem contradictory coming from a trio known as much for their bare midriffs as their soulful sound.

Anyone can defend a song.

The real question is, can they defend their career?

I think we need a Michael Bolton category on here for inexplicably popular cultural dreck.

The Busy Beatle

"People like me and Neil Young and Bob Dylan and even U2, we're from a time you just played live, and the idea of playing with tapes is something you'd never consider," he says. "Today, the excuse is, 'Well, we've got to dance a lot. We're out of breath, so we can't sing.' Well, Fred Astaire could. Time it so you can do both."

a little song from a little man...

please watch and listen as this beautiful little man sings a beautiful little song. i truly think this song will bring all people together in perfect, peaceful harmony. please sing along if you know the words.

via janiac

Stand and Deliver! -- Adam Ant Committed

As if dressing up like a pirate in make-up wasn't an early sign, Adam Ant was finally committed to the loony bin after touting a gun in an English pub.

10 Reasons to Hate Jessica Simpson

Happened upon this "anti teen pop slut" site while... uh... never mind. But where else can you read rants about Mariah's abbhorent appearance on Ally McBeal and Britney's tendency to be photographed with Coca-cola products? Morons!

Bin Laden calls mom

Transcript of phone call intercepted by the CIA:

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build the wall?
Mother should I run for president?
Mother should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Mother am I really dying?

Clip-On Tie: The Diary of a New York Art Museum Security Guard

For those of you who do not know, David Berman is the frontman for the Silver Jews. He's also a poet and frequent contributor to various online and offline magazines. Berman has close ties to Pavement and has featured Stevel Malkmus on several Silver Jews albums. Check out the Silver Jews web site if you are in the mood. The video for Random Rules was filmed in Chicago. The opening scene takes place at the Rainbo on Damen. As a writer and musician, Berman has definitely influenced me and, if you enjoy such artists like Smog, Mountain Goats and Elliot Smith, you might just enjoy the Silver Jews.

Rapping...rapping...rapping, rapping rapping

We're MCs and we're rapping rapping rapping.

-- Karen K. on Anticon Presents: Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop.

Desktop Theremin

A downloadable desktop toy. It simulates the sound and control of a theremin using mouse position rather than the position of one's hands on space. Also included: background loops over which to play. PC and Mac versions are available!

Unplug The Oldies - For Good

Mick, Keith, Bob, Patti... what is this colostomy rock? It's not about rebellion, let alone youth. It's the antithesis of rebellion: it's nostalgia. And nostalgia is the death of rock.

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(Rolling Stone put Crosby on its cover yet again that year, not for any musical achievement but for his Frankensteinian love-child arrangement with Melissa Etheridge, an affirmative-action rock mediocrity better known for her lesbianism than for any musical talent.) Didn't any of these people see Spinal Tap?

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QTip wishes he had written this...


via Andrew got me thinking about this...

My name is Khai. I like to get high.

one loc'd out asian doing his thing SFV-style.

Khai is an asian man with a pompadour who takes hip-hop songs off the radio and remakes them with his own lyrics, off-tempo rapping and heavy accent. Check out his videos.

(thanks, chris)

via Tony L.

Lymphoma didn't kill Joey Ramone; Carson "Carcinogen" Daly killed Joey Ramone

Joey Ramone died on April 15, 2001, in a world where the bloated, boring, blonde-and-blue-eyed records he and his colleagues flipped-off are more popular than Peter Frampton could ever have imagined. Our culture is crumbling; a pop stake was driven through poor Joey's heart. Making the Band documents the corporate manufacture of O-Town, whose album was subsequently certified platinum, providing further testament to the public's inability to think or feel.

via *spark-online

The Problem With Music by Steve Albini

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke". And he does of course.

Steve Albini, a Chicago native and the man who produced Nirvana's In Utero, spouts off on the music industry and does a little math to demonstrate that after record label raping most band members make less than a job at 7-11.

In May of 2000, Courtney Love gave a speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference. In her speech, she discussed rock bands and record companies and did some recording-contract math. Most of that speech was taken from this.

via the shey network

Gwen Stefani's Fashion No-No

This is probably not of general interest, but what the hell is up with this outfit that Gwen Stefani is wearing? Gwen, I'm all for "theme-dressing" but your little Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers thing is way lame. Everyone knows that your collaboration with Eve is just a cross-genre marketing ploy anyway, even if the song is damn catchy.

Indiequirer: Manchester vs. Glasgow Debate Erupts In Riot

Stuart Murdoch, of resident whiny rockers Belle and Sebastian, says "One minute we were discussing the merits of Glasgow's superiority and the next thing you know, these blokes start throwing punches."

The long dead music scene of London could not be reached for comment.

via The Morning News

Happy Birthday Mozzer!

Morrissey turns 42 today.
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get

Download | Stream

Sputnik7 = lame

I don't get it. According to the Epitonic newsletter, they've been nominated for the "Best Music Site" Webby Award, yet when you click on "Radio Stations" they tell you they don't have any, and to go over to Epitonic! Huh?

Alright, so I'll check out their video stuff. Hip hop, full screen. Wait, wait, wait. Tappity, tappity, tappity. Oh, shit, they're using RealEvil to stream video? Ewwww! Error. (Big surprise there.)

Goodbye.