Cohen Comes Alive!

Fans of The OC will know that the season premiere airs this Thursday at 9/8c. It's been available online to watch for a week too, but I'll refrain from spoilers anyway. I'll just say it's dark, and looks like they're going in a different direction.

If you just can't get enough of Sandy Cohen's golden pipes, here's Peter Gallagher (the actor who portrays Sandy) singing "Still I Long for Your Kiss" on The Today Show last summer. It ain't exactly Pitchfork material, but you'll still be mesmerized by his legendary eyebrows:

In further entertainment news...

Bob Barker is retiring from The Price is Right. Weekdays home sick will never be the same again.

Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. We're rooting for you, Phil.

Jagshemash! The first four minutes of the Borat movie are on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. The movie opens Friday, November 3.

For the locals, the Decatur Wine Tasting Festival is this Saturday from 1-4pm. Tix are $30 and are available online.

Something to do tonight that's not a house party

Slushco, Elevado, Tenth to the Moon, and The Subliminator will be playing at the newly renovated ISP Space in East Atlanta (next to the EARL) starting around 8pm. 494 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30316. I haven't been there yet, so it'll be my first time checking it out, too. I believe it's a $5 suggested donation at the door. And there's also going to be art there.

Slushco - Jenny The Barfly
Elevado - Our Turn Came Tonight
Tenth To The Moon - Kromium

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, y'all. I don't plan on posting anything special, but Paul over at The Yellow Stereo has a great selection of Halloween-themed songs up that you should check out.

Have a fun and safe holiday!

White Whale and Silent Kids coming to The EARL, Nov. 8

One upcoming show I'm going to try to see will be on November 8 at The EARL. That evening White Whale will grace the stage at my favorite little East Atlanta hangout with Atlanta-based psych-popsters Silent Kids opening up.

White Whale got quite a bit of attention this summer, and their debut WWI has been well-received. The band is made up of singer/guitarist Matt Suggs (ex-Butterglory), bassist Rob Pope (ex-Get Up Kids), and former members of Thee Higher Burning Fire (John Anderson, Zach Holland, and Dustin Kinsey). They're based out of Lawrence, Kansas, and they play a brand of indie rock reminiscent of some of their more daring Merge labelmates (is that a great label or what?). Here is "The Admiral" from their current release:

White Whale - The Admiral

For more on White Whale, check out their MySpace.

In addition, here are a couple of tracks from Silent Kids:

Silent Kids - Drift Into the Summer
Silent Kids - Engine of a Lifetime

For more on Silent Kids, check out their MySpace.

You can also stream the entire White Whale album courtesy of Merge Records.

Also playing with White Whale and Silent Kids that night are The Never, whom I don't know much about.

Tix to the November 8 show are available online. Here are the remaining tour dates for White Whale:

Oct. 31 Toronto @ Sneaky Dee's
Nov. 1 Montreal @ La Sala Rossa
Nov. 2 Boston @ TT the Bear's
Nov. 5 Philly @ The Khyber
Nov. 6 Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
Nov. 7 Chapel Hill @ Local 506
Nov. 8 Atlanta @ The EARL
Nov. 9 Nashville @ The End
Nov. 10 Columbia, MO @ Blue Fugue
Nov. 11 Lincoln, NE @ Chatterbox

ELSEWHERE...

Aquarium Drunkard features the new Jeff Tweedy DVD.

Live performances from last summer's Lollapalooza are now (officially) for sale online. Any word on whether Bonnaroo is doing this too?

The featured band on Daytrotter this week is good ol' Of Montreal. Per usual, they have an exclusive live set available.

Bob Dylan is great. Apparently, the new Broadway musical featuring his songs is not.

Former members of Black Sabbath (excluding Ozzy) have started a new band with an awful name -- Heaven and Hell. I realize it was the name of one of their popular songs and all, but that's pretty lame. At least Ronnie James Dio is working again (quiet, Dio fans).

Get Rich or Ripped Off Tryin'

I've noticed a lot of commercials trying to go indie with some of my favorite songs, but rather than use the real songs, they butcher them (probably the same people who make that Kidz Bop crap). I did some investigating because it was bugging me and here's what I found:

This Outback Steakhouse commercial sounds a lot like Of Montreal's Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games). According to this Pitchfork article, Of Montreal was asked for permission to alter their song and okayed it out of curiosity.



And this LG washing machine commercial sounds like Jens Lekman's A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill (Live YouTube video since EZarchive is down). On May 16th he commented on the issue in his blog. They asked to use the song, and he instead suggested he record a similar sounding song for them. He sent it and heard nothing. They ended up recording their own remake of his song without his approval, and without any compensation.

I'm not sure which is worse, having your song associated with a product, or having a rip-off of your song associated with a product and you getting nothing. Probably the latter.

RIP Red Auerbach (1917-2006)

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -- "Red" Auerbach

Legendary Boston Celtics coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach (link to Wikipedia) has passed away. He was 89 years old. Auerbach coached the Boston Celtics to nine championships, including eight in a row from 1959-1966.

If you'd like to watch an interview with Red by Jim Rome, someone has been nice enough to upload it to YouTube. It's in five parts:

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

High five, coach. Hat tip to the Celtics fans out there.

Stupid World Series

It may be hard out there for a pimp, but it's even harder for Cubs fans. Still no championship since 1908, and not even a World Series appearance since 1945. This year's team, frankly, sucked. Sigh.

To review recent history:

2003 - Cubs collapse vs. Marlins in NLCS; Cubs blow The Bartman Game; Marlins win World Series
2004 - Red Sox win World Series; first since 1918
2005 - Cross-town rival White Sox win World Series; first since 1917
2006 - Division rival Cardinals win World Series after winning only 83 of 162 regular season games, the fewest ever for a modern World Series champ

It's as if some higher power is taunting us. If it's William Sianis and his Billy Goat wreaking all this havoc from the afterlife, you can let up now. We get it.

EZarchive issues

I'm sorry folks, but nothing hosted on EZarchive is working right now. They're doing something to their service and it's seriously screwing up my blog. I have no idea what is going on with them in the long term, and I'm afraid I may have just lost my filehost. I don't have time right now to research other options, so I'll just have to ride this out for the time being. Bah.

By the way, I have never been able to figure out why my blog looks fine in Firefox (which I use) but the text is centered and weird on IE. Anybody have any pointers?

Items of interest (to me, anyway)

The Criminal Records party last night was fun, even though Zach did waste a bunch of his set dealing with some asshat from the audience. And we got free Criminal Records tote bags and Built to Spill samplers on the way out. Hawt!

This is gonna ramble a bit, but I'm pressed for time...

The Decemberists are at Tabernacle tonight, 10/27.

The Decemberists - The Soldiering Life

Tapes 'N Tapes are at The Loft on Sunday night, 10/29.

Tapes 'N Tapes - Insistor

Cold War Kids have posted a live acoustic show from September on their site, with a bunch of covers.

Cold War Kids -Indoor Fireworks [Elvis Costello cover]

Col. Bruce Hampton & Aquarium Rescue Unit are at the Variety Playhouse on Saturday. Neat.

It's been brought to my attention that Casper & the Cookies are booked at The EARL on November 30. Frickin' sweet.

Casper & the Cookies - Take It Away, Kathy

Also, I'm told that Death Cab at the Fox next month is nearly sold out. If you want tix, it's time to get 'em.

James Mercer - Feb. 20, 2003 @ Herrgarn, Linkoping, Sweden

There seems to be a lot of buzz about The Shins at the moment, so I thought this particular little live set might be of interest to folks. This is James Mercer of The Shins doing a solo performance prior to the release of Chutes Too Narrow. It's a great quality set, and has the added bonus of guest appearances by Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Rosie Thomas (who is not Sufjan's baby mama). This may have already made the rounds on the blogosphere a few times, but hopefully there are some folks out there who haven't heard it yet. Have at it:

James Mercer
February 20, 2003
Herrgarn, Linkoping, Sweden

01. intro
02. Caring is Creepy
03. Girl Inform Me
04. Those Bold City Girls
05. Sphagnum Esplanade
06. One by One All Day
07. Know Your Onion!
08. When I Goose-Step
09. New Slang [with Sam Beam]
10. The Past and Pending [with Rosie Thomas]

For more on The Shins, see their site at Sup Pop or their official website.

Did you know The Shins are named after a family in The Music Man? If not, now you do.

Update, 10/28: Links removed due to file hosting issues.

Attention, hockey fans

Hey Atlanta hockey fans -- in case you're not aware, there's a great new local hockey blog out there that you'll want to know about. It's called Do the Thrashers Have Large Talons?, and it focuses on the Atlanta Thrashers and other local hockey-related happenings. It's maintained by C&T buddy The Falconer, who is a mainstay on the local hockey scene. He utilizes both qualitative and quantitative elements in his analyses, and has a nice project going on over there.

Though I guess it's technically unaffiliated, The Falconer and Mrs. Falconer are also part of the invaluable Hockey's Future prospects site. Give that a peek too if you're interested in the future of the game.

In conjunction with this hockey-themed post, here are a couple songs from The Zambonis, who pretty much write and sing about nothing but the sport. "Here We Go Again" is a sort of psych-pop/pop-punk tune, while "Greatest Season" is a spur-of-the-moment Johnny Cash tribute that the guys apparently whipped up in a single day.

The Zambonis - Here We Go Again
The Zambonis - Greatest Season

For more material and merch from The Zambonis (and they have a bunch), see their website. You can also be their friend on MySpace.

Tenacious D coming to Gwinnett Center Arena on Dec. 5

For those like myself who were unaware, it seems the rock juggernaut that is Tenacious D will be coming to the Gwinnett Center Arena near Atlanta on December 5. JB and KG will be appearing at the arena with Neil Hamburger in tow as well, which will only add to the awkward hilarity of the evening. Unfortunately, it appears the show will be $42 plus charges per ticket. Pffftt.

Either way, here's a taste of The D at no charge:

Tenacious D - Tribute

Note: NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

I imagine the stop will be largely to support the upcoming Tenacious D film, The Pick of Destiny. You can check out the trailer here.

Princeton - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

I certainly hope y'all enjoyed the Princeton post below, and took the time to check those gents out. They've since been kind enough to send me their cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" to offer to you fine folks. I so remember my mom playing this tape when I was a kid. I guess it was one of those artists she'd blare while cleaning the house, along with other FM stalwarts like Madonna, The Bangles, Pet Shop Boys, or Huey Lewis & the News. Ah, nostalgia. It really is a timeless song, whether or not it's identified with one of the icons of '80s oddity.

Princeton - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

In addition, here's the live Ben Gibbard version of the song that was also featured here recently:

Ben Gibbard - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

I'd throw up Cyndi Lauper's version as well, but I don't seem to have it available. This is an oversight which must be corrected.

1/2 off Plexifilm DVD's!

I swear this isn't turning into some sort of bargain hunting blog. However, I got an email today from plexifilm, those dandy music film folks, with a half-off offer for their entire line of DVD's. Apparently it's their fifth anniversary and this is how they've chosen to celebrate. Fine by me. Here are some of the titles available:

LOW in Europe
Drive Well, Sleep Carefully: On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie
I am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco
We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen
Guided by Voices: The Electrifying Conclusion (last show)
GIGANTIC (A Tale of Two Johns): A Film about They Might be Giants
Galaxie 500: Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste
Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek (with Bright Eyes, The Faint, Cursive, etc.)
Kill the Moonlight (with bonus CD including rare Beck circa 1993-94)

There's more too, but those are of most interest to me. Unfortunately for my pocketbook, I already have many of their products. However, if you don't it may be a good time to splurge. Use the code "anniversary" at checkout for the half-price discount. It's good through October 31.

The full catalog is available online. Have fun!

Threadless $10 sale

Heads up, folks. Threadless is having another $10 sale for 2 days. I finally ordered my 'Cookie Loves Milk' shirt. Yay!

A little Princeton education

Blogging about music can be fun, but it can instill one with an odd sense of regret from time to time. In my case, this typically happens when there's something I really want to post about and I keep putting it off for whatever reason. Today I'm going to take care of just one such situation for good.

One band I've been digging for a few months but haven't mentioned here is a California pop trio known as Princeton. I know they've shown up on other blogs, and that's great. However, I'd hate to ignore them here on C&T. They play an absolutely charming and infectious brand of bedroom pop that deserves to be heard.

My understanding is that their current release, A Case of the Emperor's Clothes, was made with a single mic and minimal instrumentation in a London flat. Does it get any more DIY than that? These youngsters are on the right track, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from them in the future. Here are a couple of songs from their mini-LP that you should check out if you haven't:

Princeton - The Indifference Curve
Princeton - Blackbeard

For more on Princeton, see their official site or their MySpace.

You can also check out a live video of "The Indifference Curve" on YouTube.

Fraggle Rock coming to the silver screen

Hang on to your Doozers, ladies and gentlemen. Fraggle Rock is coming to the big screen, and they're bringing Ahmet Zappa along for the ride. No, seriously.

The film will reportedly feature a good number of songs and see the Fraggles wander out of their caves and into the human world, which they refer to as "Outer Space." More info available at E! Online.

Here's the classic Fraggle Rock theme, which gets far too many spins in the home of this 20-something guy:

Fraggle Rock - original theme

Amazing that this doesn't get covered by bands all the time. This'll make you bounce around your living room, even if you're not still drinking juice from boxes.

The Shins

No, I'm not posting about the leak of the forthcoming album. I haven't downloaded it and haven't heard it. Really, it's just an excuse to post what may be my favorite press photo ever (although Gnarls Barkley had some great ones too):

Isn't that the neatest thing ever?

Here's some classic Shins for you courtesy of Sub Pop, just in case you aren't already a convert:

The Shins - Know Your Onion!
The Shins - So Says I
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless

The new album, Wincing the Night Away, hits stores on January 23. For some more info, see Billboard.com or just about any other blog.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Gold Lion" @ Criminal

For those who made (or missed) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in-store at Criminal, I found a vid from their performance of "Gold Lion" linked from the website of Criminal Records. Here it is, courtesy of YouTube:

Locals note that you can see Steve next to Karen O holding a mask with her face on it. Surreal.

If you shot this, speak up... and thanks!


Remember that kickass Criminal Records anniversary party is coming up on 10/26. Woohoo!

As an aside, I've been informed that Filter named this one of the top 5 blogs whose name sounds like a Decemberists song title. I guess I'll take that.

The afterlife = extra innings?

I find this completely disturbing.

I'm a baseball guy and all, but... come on.

Besides, how is one supposed to use both this and one's KISS casket? I guess you could be half cremated, but that's just effed up.

Go Tigers!

Off to Albany

Well, I'm off to Albany, New York, first thing in the morning. Be back on Wednesday. No updates between now and then.

If anybody has any feelings one way or another about Albany, do tell. I'm going up there for a job interview, so I'd be curious what folks with similar interests think of the area. Looks like there's plenty of free wi-fi available, so that's good. Cost of living looks almost identical to Atlanta. Any thoughts on local life, music, politics, etc.?

Have a great week, y'all.

One more thing: Worst Halloween costume ever? [via Fark]

Go Tigers!

I'd almost forgotten there was still baseball going on. My Cubs crashed and burned before the All-Star break, so it's been off my radar. And I don't care what Tommy Lasorda says, I don't give a damn about watching Major League Baseball (tm) if my team's not involved. However, I now officially pledge my allegiance to the Detroit Tigers for the duration of the World Series. I'm a National League guy, but there's no way I'm rooting for the Cardinals or Mets.

In honor of the Tigers and their 40-something pitcher Kenny "The Gambler" Rogers, here's a video of the "other" Kenny Rogers singing "The Gambler" with some muppets. Gotta love a kids show that openly flaunts gambling, whiskey, and cigarettes. I gotta say though, the tap-dancing muppet ghost at the end may cause nightmares:

Cat Power @ The EARL next Sunday

Cat Power will be playing a solo matinee set at The EARL next Sunday, 10/22. Doors at 3pm, music around 4:00. $18 in advance. Buy 'em online (click on the monkey).

If you need your live Cat Power fix now, check out a live show from May 1999 now available at rbally.

So, matinee YYY's this weekend and matinee Cat Power next weekend.

It's shaping up to be a fine Rocktober, no?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Criminal anniversary show

FYI, wonderful Atlanta people -- many of you probably know this, but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing a free in-store at Criminal Records tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. I won't be able to escape my cave to attend, but it sounds pretty freakin' awesome.

Also, what's up with the Jawa Bunny thing on their website? Creepy.

Lillian from Criminal would also like me to remind everyone that the Criminal Records 15th anniversary party is coming up on October 26. It features two great comedians, Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis, along with area bands Elf Power and Snowden. Sweet. Tickets are available from the Variety Playhouse.

I'm pretty sure Zach has to look up his own webpage to figure out the spelling of his last name. Here he is pontificating on his lady troubles while being serenaded by a choir of his ex-girlfriends. We've all been there.

I miss The Selmanaires and The Preakness

Due to my current crushing workload and self-imposed exile from local shenanigans, I've missed out on a lot of ATL music fun lately. I'm bummed about it, but there's no way around it. I even gave away my Built to Spill tix for Friday because I can't go. Sigh.

Two of the local bands I'm really missing, The Selmanaires and The Preakness, have shows coming up next weekend and I hope to catch at least one. The Selmanaires are at 10 High on Friday, 10/20, and The Preakness will be opening for Portastatic at The EARL on Saturday, 10/21. Each of these bands has gotten some hype here before, and each appeared on the C&T Atlanta mix tapes back in July (The Selmanaires on the ATL rock mix tape, and The Preakness on the ATL indie pop/rock edition).

Here are a few tracks from The Selmanaires, who I'm sure will turn 10 High into a sweaty, rockin' mess. That place ain't so big, and they bring the crowd whenever they play.

The Selmanaires - Selmanaire Rock
The Selmanaires - In the Direction of Yes
The Selmanaires - GMAFB (demo)

The Selmanaires are on MySpace.

Here are the basement demos by The Preakness, capturing their early raw sound. Pretty lo-fi, but they're nice little indie pop/rock tracks:

The Preakness - Air Traffic
The Preakness - What They're Saying
The Preakness - This Drive
The Preakness - I Thought I Was in Control

The Preakness are on MySpace.

Also, for the ATL locals, Snowden will be playing a set on the Georgia Music Show on WRAS 88.5 tonight (Thursday) at 6pm. Tune in, yo.

Any other local bands impressing lately? Enquiring minds want to know.

FYI: EZarchive is being flaky right now, so the files hosted there may or may not be available. Give it a shot. If you can see Lloyd and the masthead above, things are probably good to go.

Vic Conrad & the First Third

I've been listening to an album tonight that I thought my usual readers might enjoy. It's the self-titled debut from Vic Conrad & the First Third, released by Hidden Agenda/Elephant 6 in 2003. While I wouldn't characterize the band as a member of the Elephant 6 cohort, it's not hard to see where this project relates to the E6 stable musically. They deal in a similar brand of psych-pop bliss/oddity. Don't be fooled though; they're from Australia, not Athens.

Vic Conrad & the First Third - People Who Care
Vic Conrad & the First Third - See My Way

The album is available for under $10 from Tonevendor. I understand that Vic Conrad used to the frontman for an Australian pop group called The Garden Path. Anybody happen to have any of that on file? I'd like to check it out. Anybody know what he's up to now? I'm not exactly up on the Australian pop scene.

Idiotic trivia fact: I have copies of this album on both CD and vinyl, but completely by accident. They have different covers, and I didn't realize they were the same thing at the time. Genius!

Kim Jong-il needs a hug

Well, look who must have been feeling unloved. It seems that North Korea's creepy, megalomaniacal, Norfin troll-looking dictator Kim Jong-il likely ordered a nuclear test this morning that has triggered a global backlash. Now if only the powers-that-be had seen Team America: World Police years ago they would have seen this coming. I'll refrain from further commentary at the moment, as I doubt I have much to say that you can't read on Daily Kos.

Since Kim Jong-il is in the spotlight today, I've decided to feature his sad lament from the aforementioned Team America.

Kim Jong-il - I'm So Ronery [from the Team America: World Police Soundtrack]

Buy the Team America soundtrack from Amazon. Derka derka. Derka derk.

Elsewhere...

C&T friend deadjournalist.com has a new interview with The Decemeberists online. Worth a read.

This one's for you, Seth Cohen

Now that the Sunday political shows are over and I'm about to get back to work (it's a stats day), I thought I'd throw up another quick post. My 'Ben Gibbard' folder is snugly nestled a few down from my 'Beck' folder, and when I saw these I thought they'd be fun to share.

Here a few live covers by Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab, of course) that have been floating around for a while. Go nuts.

Ben Gibbard - The Saddest Story Ever Told [Magnetic Fields cover]
Ben Gibbard - Thriller [Michael Jackson cover]
Ben Gibbard - Complicated [Avril Lavigne cover]
Ben Gibbard - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun [Cyndi Lauper cover]

If that's not enough, here are a few covers by Gibbard's DCFC bandmate Chris Walla. One's been featured here before, but what the hell.

Chris Walla - Shattered Dreams [Johnny Hates Jazz cover]
Chris Walla - Too Gone [The Connells cover]
Chris Walla - Cupid [Sam Cooke cover]

Thanks to Walla and Hall of Justice for hosting his tracks. More of his recordings are available here.

Beck 7-7-1993 @ KCRW

Not that anybody actually commented, but judging from the number of downloads it seems the Beck offering on the last post was pretty popular. How about some more?

Beck
July 7, 1993
Live on KCRW

1. Loser
2. Mexico
3. Death is Coming to Get You
4. Whimsical Actress
5. Pay No Mind
6. MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack

Be sure to check out "Whimsical Actress" if nothing else. Beck describes it as a "flight of whimsy," and that's an apt description. It's pretty ridiculous, and a rare treat.

Funny how "MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack" is more relevant today than ever.

The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited

One of the seminal accomplishments in American recorded music is undoubtedly Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Originally released in 1952, the anthology gathered together great American music from the folk, blues, and roots traditions recorded in the 1920s-1930s. Rather than just another throw-away compilation album, Smith's anthology has over five decades come to be a pivotal work that inspired generations of artists to revisit the traditions of American music. For more on the Anthology of American Folk Music, check out Wikipedia.

To honor that work and the man who assembled it, Harry Smith, Shout! Factory will release The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited on October 24. Over 4 CD's and DVD's, the set will feature live performances of contemporary artists taking on the standards featured on the anthology. Artists involved include Wilco, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Beth Orton, Sonic Youth, Beck, Petra Haden, Nick Cave, and others. This thing is bursting at the seams. You can find the full list of artists involved at the project's official site. If you're passionate about this music, it's probably worth the $52 price tag. Here are a couple of tracks from the release for your listening pleasure:

Wilco - James Alley Blues
Beth Orton - Frankie

If video is your thing, you can also download a live performance of "John the Revelator" by Nick Cave courtesy of Shout! Factory.

The entire bundle is available for purchase from Sony or Amazon, but Sony is a couple bucks cheaper.

For good measure, here are the original versions of the tracks above, as featured on the Anthology of American Folk Music:

Richard Rabbitt Brown - James Alley Blues
Mississippi John Hurt - Frankie

Anybody else amused that this now appears on the same page as Leonard Nimoy and Mastodon? I am.

Nobody sent in any Mark Hamill goodness, but here's a nifty little Hank Williams cover for y'all anyway:

Beck - Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams cover)

Have a great weekend!

REGISTER TO VOTE, DAMMIT

Time to get all civic-minded for a moment...

A quick reminder -- if you're not registered to vote, or need to change registration to your current home city/state/whatever, it's time to take care of that now for the elections this November.

Registration deadlines for each state can be found here courtesy of Rock the Vote. The deadlines for several states, including Georgia, are right around the corner. You can find the necessary forms via either your state Secretary of State's website or this website.

For those of you in Georgia, the voter registration form can be found here in .pdf format for you to fill out and mail in. Georgia's registration deadline is Tuesday, 10/10, so you'll need to print this out and get it in the mail pronto.

Please do pass this info along to any friends, family, or whomever might need to make sure they're eligible to vote on November 7. Now, back to our regular programming...

Holiday weekend preview

That’s right, Monday is Columbus Day, one of those holidays that gets overlooked unless you get the day off. Before I get started, let me introduce myself. I’m Alex and I’m going to attempt to help Rich while he focuses on other stuff, so I’m kind of like that substitute teacher that didn’t care about the syllabus. I’m new to blogging, so go easy on me.

So much happening. The Indigo Girls are at the Tabernacle Thursday and Friday. I think they did an in-store at Criminal a few weeks ago. Did anyone go to that?

On Friday 9/6, Girl Talk will be performing at Azul/Raging Burrito as part of Decatur Social Club. 5 bucks, doors at 11pm, 21+. If you aren’t familiar with Girl Talk, check out this recent interview he did with local website Keenly Observed.

Girl Talk - Bounce That

Southeast Performer Magazine will be sponsoring a show on Saturday 9/7 with The Black Lips, Be Your Own Pet, and All Night Drug Prowling Wolves at The Drunken Unicorn. Congratulations to The Black Lips for being Creative Loafing’s Best of 2006’s Critics’ Pick for Best Local Rock Act.

The Black Lips - Oh Katrina
All Night Drug Prowling Wolves - I Cannot Say

Also that night, the former members of A Fir-ju Well will be making their debut under the new monicker, Gringo Star, at The EARL with Envie and The Sweetloves.

Another local band name change: Creve Coeur is now Slow Motion Crash. They'll also be playing Saturday at the new Lenny's with Cassavettes, The Pendletons, Midwives, and Psychic Hearts.

The new Lenny's takes time to get used to. When asked, "What's the new Lenny's like?" most responses I've heard have been: "Weird." Weird because it's big and clean. They have pretzels at the bar! I don't recall there being any type of food at the old location. The last time I was there they had just gotten new stage lighting and photos on the walls. Swing by there and watch as it progresses.

And Mastodon is playing the Masquerade on Saturday, too. They'll be at Criminal Records during the day for a "signing and hanging," whatever that means. I hope it involves nooses, because that would be awesome and appropriate, but it probably won't.

So that's my first post. Hope it was acceptable. Have fun this weekend.
All photos by Alex Adan.

Frank Miller's 300 teaser trailer

Wow. I haven't been paying attention to the film adaptation of Frank Miller's 300. Just saw the trailer thanks to a link from goldenfiddle, and it looks awesome.

Here's the synopsis via the 300 production blog:

Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller’s (Sin City) acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.

Check out the teaser trailer here via Apple.com. Looks like I know what I'm doing on March 16. The film also has a MySpace page. Looks like it's dormant though, as the last login was apparently in 480 B.C. You can also check out the cast and crew at IMDB.

Hollywood pop from Gertie Fox

I don't know if I'll keep up anything near this pace, but it feels good to be blogging again.

One thing I missed during my hiatus was being able to check out new bands who send me nice little notes. Of course I get a lot of stuff that isn't very interesting (to me), but enough of what comes is good that it makes it worthwhile to dig through the C&T inbox. Today I got a little note from a band called Gertie Fox, who are identified in their mailing as a quartet from Los Angeles. That same mailing goes on to name-drop Grandaddy, Built to Spill, and The Byrds as influences, but to me they sound a lot like mid-'90s college radio staples like Matthew Sweet and Weezer.

Gertie Fox - She's So Married
Gertie Fox - Modern Love

Each of these songs is from their self-released album An Imaginary Meeting In the Woods. I presume it has nothing to do with the aforementioned Spock/Cash encounter. For more on Gertie Fox see their official site or their MySpace.

Beatles for Sale Free!

Well, Beatles covers anyway. Why? Because that's what I'm in the mood for. Hope they brighten your Thursday morning. Plus they'll give you something to do during lulls in the discussion of the Lost and South Park season premieres. See, I'm looking out for you. Enjoy:

The Jam - And Your Bird Can Sing
Teenage Fanclub - The Ballad of John and Yoko
Nick Cave - Let It Be
Little Richard - I Saw Her Standing There
Stephen Kellogg - Two of Us (live)
Cowboy Junkies - Run for Your Life
Rogue Wave - I'm Only Sleeping (live 6-1-2006)
Lloyd Dobler Effect - With a Little Help from My Friends (live 3-18-2005)

Nice to see Geico and Hollywood Squares gave Little Richard some time off to record a Beatles cover.

I can't believe there's a band called Lloyd Dobler Effect. I wonder if they sell T-shirts...

Leonard Nimoy - "I Walk the Line"

This is a post for that key outlaw country/science fiction demographic. I know you're out there.

So apparently during one of the USS Enterprise's many time travel adventures, Mr. Spock managed to mind-meld with The Man in Black. I'm not aware of the particulars, but I imagine it was one hell of an evening. Spock probably went to town on his Vulcan lute while Johnny played his acoustic guitar. I'll stop there, because I feel like I'm writing some insane fan fiction that ends with Charlie Daniels and Commander Data having a fiddle duel in the Holodeck. Regardless, here's Leonard Nimoy's... uh.. interesting take on the Johnny Cash classic "I Walk the Line." You know you're curious:

Leonard Nimoy - I Walk the Line

While you're at it, you can make Evil Spock your BFF on MySpace.

If anybody has a bootleg of Mark Hamill covering some Hank Williams, hook me up.

Comfort music and exercises in sanity maintenance

Many of you probably know that I am very, very fond of both The Mountain Goats and The Decemberists. You might also be surprised to know that despite that fact I still haven't listened to either Get Lonely or The Crane Wife even though they're both available at my fingertips. I'm waiting to listen to them until I can give them my full attention rather than have them as background music while I read government documents and obsess over hazard coefficients.

As a result, I've retreated into the aural equivalent of comfort food -- perennial favorites that I can enjoy in the background while dithering away with other things. Here's what's been spinning at C&T HQ this week:

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear
Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Nick Drake - Way to Blue: An Introduction to

You might already have all those in your music libraries but, if not, here are some samples:

The Mountain Goats - This Year
Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Beulah - Popular Mechanics for Lovers
Pavement - Shady Lane
Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me

I should add that Van Morrison's Moondance is probably my most frequently played album in this category. Love it.

Well, that's my comfort music at the moment. What's yours?

Great Decatur Beer Tasting Festival 2006

A bit of local news -- tix are now available for the Great Decatur Beer Tasting Festival on October 21.

I'll try to crawl out of my cave to hit that if I find the time. It's (almost definitely) my last year in the Atlanta area, so I'd hate to miss it.

Tix are reportedly going fast. Might wanna pick 'em up now to avoid being shut out.

Wow

What an odd thing. I haven't posted in over a month, and hadn't even stopped in to read comments in about that long. I don't even want to know what the C&T Gmail and MySpace accounts look like right now. Yet, somehow, the readers of Creative Loafing named this blog Best Georgia-Based Music Blog. Go look. Neat, huh?

I'd like to apologize for not updating, but it can't really be helped. I'm in dissertation hell, and have a job interview in Albany, New York, in a couple weeks. More interviews to come all over the country next month as well, I'd guess. I may not return to this thing for some time.

Congrats to KissAtlanta for the editor's pick. They deserve it.

Miss everyone in the ATL music community, and I hope to get out sometime. Built to Spill was on the calendar, but that was before I knew about this interview in NY. Hopefully I'll see some of you soon. For now, I have to get back to reading through Senate hearings from 40 years ago. It's an exciting life, to be sure.