Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving time


hope everyone had a good one yesterday. i ate my weight in oysters.
in sunny Lancaster, PA for this one...Santa arrived from the top of our hotel to light the town tree this evening...
meanwhile 'Canes blow a 4-1 lead at home in the 3rd period to lose to the Thrashers. glad i wasn't there to see it.
have a great weekend!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Elvis Late Night

Not that see these things happen in real time; i try to be asleep by then, but these clips of Elvis Costello on Fallon with the Roots band are pretty great. EC looks lean and mean and pulls out a couple of songs i always like hearing and least expect to at this point -- "High Fidelity" and "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea." Rampant recent "rootsiness" is signaled only by his sideburns. Admittedly there are about 3 too many people in the band (and a couple too many strings on the bass player's axe) but ?uestlove (sp?) is a rock and the tuba is more useful than i thought.
Via Pitchfork:
Watch: Elvis Costello Plays With Stephen Colbert, the Roots

'Canes Go For Three


Well the Hurricanes have either turned some kind of corner in the confidence dept. at least, or maybe it's just a blip in an otherwise dismal season, but i'm hoping it's the former...after winning a crazy game on Thursday in which they came back from 3-0 in the first to the Leafs, to finallly tie the game at 4-all, then gave up that tie with .29 secs left, pulled Legace and tied it again with TWO seconds left on a Cole score....then Jussi and Ruutu (who also had 4 assists in the game) locked it up by scoring on the first two shots of the shootout...wild...the 'Canes more decisively beat Tampa Bay Saturday, and head to Dallas tonight to try to keep the momentum going in a quest for respectability before the end of the year... Staal is skating but not back tonight, Ward is still indefinite, but certain guys like Sutter and Cullen and the aforementioned Finns are stepping up to bring some cohesion to a depleted lineup and the last few have been fun to watch (mostly). Three wins in a row doesn't sound like much, but when you've recently lost double digits in a row, it sounds pretty awesome.
Go 'Canes!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Wild Life


Amazing story of the life (so far) of artist Ford Beckman in the latest issue of The Believer. I won't even summarize because it would take away from the way the twists and turns of his tale reveal themselves in the article. Wild.

speaking of wild, are there riots in Ireland today? they were completely jobbed in the World Cup qualifier yesterday v France! Wow.

listening:
Bill Evans - Loose Blues - had never even heard of this and found it used; from reading about it it sounds as though it was never issued during his lifetime because the tunes were too tricky for everyone to nail to his satisfaction during the session, i'm just happy to have a Bill Evans record i've never heard. the guy seems so serious, but there's a song on here called Fudgesickle Built for Four, how could i not get it?
Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds, & Ghanian Blues 1968-81
Talking Heads - '77
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Lambchop - Live at XX Merge

Monday, November 16, 2009

'Canes Start New Win Streak


our Hurricanes avoided setting a franchise losing streak record by finally taking a game yesterday, beating the Wild in a shootout. of course they had to make it interesting, giving up a 4-1 lead to allow it to go to OT, but i'll take a win any way they can get it these days. Jussi was the only guy to score in the shootout, Leighton in goal stopping all the Wild shots in the shootout. also i wanted to mention the name Clutterbuck.

i didn't make it to that game but did make it over to the Nasher to check out the Picasso and the Allure of Language show there, a concentrated, beautiful selection of work in the exhibit. i need to go back and take the audio tour, not possible with a 2-yr old in tow wanting to both touch everything and leave...here's a Times article discussing the show when it was at Yale.

listening:

The Jasmine Minks - The Revenge Of...
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar
Lambchop - Live at XX Merge
Pete Townshend - Scoop
Brenton Woods - 18 Best

Friday, November 13, 2009

'Chopping it Up


Lambchop returns to NC this weekend, played Charlotte last night, hit the Grey Eagle in Asheville tomorrow night, but tonight we get them in Durham! Excited as always about seeing the 'Chop live.

Their brief visit coincides with next week's release of Lambchop Live at XX Merge, a live album and concert film of their appearance at our festival this past summer at the Cat's Cradle...you can watch a preview over at Death & Taxes.

Awesome photo of Kurt by PJ Sykes.

Hockey, we can talk when the 'Canes win a game. Brutal.

Rain, i'm ready for it to stop for a few days!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Shoot Yrself


you may have seen The Merge Records Companion -- a visual discography of the Merge catalog with various Merge aritsts, employees, friends etc holding records & cds....now you can get in on the action and enter a contest to win an XX Merge prize pack by taking a picture of yourself holding one of your favorite Merge releases...check out the current entrants and put your own HERE....some good ones up already!

Saturday, November 07, 2009

House Passes Health Care Bill

eat it John Boehner you #$##$$% a##hole

ok it's up to Harry Reid to bring the Hammer down in the Senate, certainly not a given....

but it's a start.

listening:

Rolling Stones -- Beggars Banquet
Robert Forster -- The Evangelist
Various Artists -- Zanzibara - Hot in Dar