Free Noise, Asobi Seksu's Back, and CMJ Thoughts

--Wanna be hip and annoying at the same time? Get a free noisy ringtone from Bloc Party, The Hold Steady, or British Sea Power here, courtesy of Target.

--The official favorite local band of extrawack!, Asobi Seksu, has a few dates scheduled for September:

09/14/05 Crash Mansion / CMJ w/Controller Controller, Decibully
09/29/05 Great Scotts, Allston MA w/Oxford Collapse
09/30/05 PopMontreal, Montreal PQ support TBA

Their CMJ gig at Crash Mansion oughta be cool, at least for me, since I seem to be the only person I know that actually digs Crash Mansion. I always seem to bump into someone I know or stumble into an open bar situation. Nuttin' wrong with that. Asobi Seksu's website lists Bryan Greene as their new drummer, replacing the always rock-steady Keith Hopkin, so I assume this'll be the first gig with the new guy. Pretty ballsy to debut a new line-up during an industry show, I'd say.

--Since I've blocked off the entire week of CMJ from work, I'm really gonna enjoy it this year. I usually am only able to take in about half of what I'd like to do, and can only hit one screening at the most of the Movie Festival part. This year I plan on catching most of the films involved, and I'm really psyched for the Cameron Crowe Q&A after the Elizabethtown screening.

If any of you muggs who read this stuff plan on hitting any CMJ shows, shoot me an email and we can arrange to clink pints of beer paid for by record companies together.

One reason why the Vice Store on Lafayette is awesome...

...is the sign on the front door:



The prices in there are nuts, but the fact that you can usually pick up a free fresh copy of their magazine, and sometimes a gratis music or dvd sampler make it worth stopping in for every couple weeks.

And up the street, the Brooklyn Industries store (home of some of the nicest and friendliest shop assistants in Soho) is featuring this window display/art installation:


I wish I knew how to animate photos, because this photo would be so much cooler if you could see the legs spinning on the "ones & twos".

Gut Feeling With The Smart Patrol...Swiff It Good!

Earlier this month I saw DEVO at Hammerstein. As usual, they were amazing, and rocked with a fierceness belying their age. I didn't even attempt sneaking a camera past the security patdown, but "Redhair" did..his photos from the show on Flickr can be found here.

Though I saw no real mention of the show in the regular press other than line entries in concert calendars, there are a bunch of nice reviews from fans on the Internets. Blog reviews of the show can be found at Flaming Pablum, St. Murse, At Wrest (who snuck into the show!), The Faulty Hero, The Imperial Orgy, and The Vault Of Buncheness.

For kicks, here's a photo of DEVO's show last year after the Nike Run Hit Wonder race...

Draggin' At Warped

As if the PGA thing wasn't enough to warrant a good sunburn, I spent yesterday out in the sun at Warped at the lovely Raceway Park in Englishtown, volunteering at the One/Oxfam table.

I'm not a huge fan of the formulaic stuff that passes as punk these days, but I heard a couple of bands that caught my ear in a good way. I really enjoyed the set from The Kinison (shown at left), who were a lot less screamy then I'd heard they'd be. I also dug Hangar 18(below),a Definitive Jux crew whom I caught under the hip-hop tent.
I also got to hang with my soccer pals Millencolin, who brought out skate legend Steve Caballero to play guitar for a bit, and I stopped and grooved to Mae's set on my way outta there.

The highlight of the day, aside from all the good work we did for Oxfam, was when some befuddled traffic guy, trying to get me to the working crew parking lot, inadvertently sent me out down one of the raceway's actual drag strips. I totally wanted to punch it, but the combination of my Scion's tiny engine and the multitude of local cops around kept me to a top speed of 40 MPH. Photo of my trip down the strip (through the bug-ridden windshield) and a couple more show photos are below:

Chasing Tiger and Chilly Beers Before Noon

Today was a two-blimp day (MetLife & Horizon), so that was cool.

We walked over to the PGA thing around 8:30 this morning, and between the heat and the stroll we were soaked by the time we got there. The place was packed with other soaked people, and anytime there was a gathering of attendees in any sort of group, it stunk. Do golfers/corporate jerks not use deodorant to save a few bucks to put toward their pastel polo shirts? I've not seen that many polos with collars turned up since the house party scene in "Valley Girl".

I knew we were in trouble when I put on CNN this morning and the reporter, broadcasting live from Baltusrol said, "It's about 4000 degrees here in New Jersey!". In reality, it hit 101F a little later. Out on the links (wow...I've never said that before...) in the direct sun, the heat was really unbearable.

Not knowing exactly how the whole tournament thing worked, we just kinda walked around until we figured out where Tiger Woods was playing/hitting/whatever. We then set ourselves up near the green of his next hole (the 9th) and waited about 10 minutes before he showed up and played/hit/whatever. He drove onto the green on his first shot, and sank the putt on his second, one under par. I was kinda glad to see his shirt was as soaked as mine, and after the crowd gave him an ovation of the likes I've not seen since the Gang Of Four show at Irving Plaza a few months ago, off he went to the next hole with the other guy he was playing with whose name might have well been "Joe Invisible".

Having seen Tiger in action, we beat feet to the air-conditioned pavillion that our fancy-pants passes gave us access to, allowing me to drink beer at 10:30 in the morning with the beautiful people. Now that was actually fun. I took my morning beer buzz back out into the sun, immediately proclaimed it too hot for any more hanging with cigar-smoking richie lunkheads, and we made our way back home to collapse on the couch and decide, "I guess we won't do that again".

On a cooler note:
There are a zillion places on the web that offer free music, but most are abject crap. Bucking that trend, Neigborhoodies offers a different new free GOOD MP3 download every day. Here's their archive of songs so far, which includes songs by Thunderbirds are Now!, Ben Lee, CYHSY, Sambassadeur, Teenage Fanclub, Sufjan Stevens, Hefner, Radio 4, Jens Lekman, Wedding Present, I Am Kloot, 33hz, The Go! Team, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Art Brut, Morrissey, Stars, Annie, Maximo Park, Shout Out Louds and more.

Blimptastic!

I love blimps. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm totally fascinated by them, and I can watch them all day. I think the fact that they just kind of hang in the air floating around seemingly without effort is relaxing to me somehow. Or maybe I'm just easily amused.

Having said that, this has been a great week for me as a blimpophile. I live walking distance from Baltusrol Country Club, site of the PGA Championship this week. Everyday since Tuesday there's been one blimp or another hovering over my house, which has been cool. The MetLife blimp above was here today.


On the other hand, through the weekend my neighborhood is loaded with clowns like these guys (shown here hogging the jogging path in my park), all dressed identically. I even saw one guy walking up the street with a pair of golf gloves hanging out of his back pocket, as if Tiger was gonna pick him out of the crowd and say, "Hey, Sporto! Take this drive for me, will ya?".

Every Wall Street mook, creepy lawyer, and businessguy-with-an-expense-account with an ounce of interest in golf is here for the tourney. Since there is no on-site parking at the course, our streets are lousy with parked Jags, Beemers, and Land Rovers. And not surprisingly, these all-about-themselves knuckleheads are not shy about dropping trash outside their cars before they leave town at the end of the day.

My neighbor, an amazingly cool old Scottish guy who works at the course, offered Kimba & me a pair of VIP passes to go tommorrow. Despite the fact that I hate the game of golf, golfers in general, and besides Tiger Woods and John Daly the Drunk Guy I know no other players, I can't pass up the idea of free food and drink just a short walk from my doorstep. The old guy swears the "event of it all" is worth the trip, so I'm there. Watch for me on the CBS television coverage. I'll be the guy with the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah shirt in the middle of all the slicked-back Gordon Gecko's in Izods.

Red Pill Blue Pill Red Pill

Just got through a crazy, nutty, crazy week...here are a few things I stumbled across in the few minutes I wasn't working or recovering from working...

Take Your Medicine has an pretty interesting early MP3 demo of Bloc Party's "She's Hearing Voices" from back when they were known as "Angel Fire".

From the "Do We Really Need Another One?" Department:
Wanna hear the first of the Kelly Clarkson knockoffs? The Veronicas are 20-yr-old twins from Brisbane, and their single (download here) is a shameless ripoff of "Since U Been Gone". Cute? Yes. Original? As if.

"Sweet Troubled Soul", the new stellastarr* single can be downloaded here, gratis, courtesy of their record company.

The Village Voice Riff Raff blog has a short interview with Matt from The Rapture with info about their eagerly awaited album.

NPR's "All Things Considered" will be webcasting full sets from the Kings Of Leon/Secret Machines show from the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC this Thursday (August 11) night, and making MP3's available immediately afterward...details here. Wanna see that same bill for free (and a 75 cents TicketMaster charge) at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ this Tuesday night? Go to this TicketMaster page and enter the password "starland6" in the Concerts East discount box. Voila, you've just saved $25 bucks, enough to buy a case of beer to drink before you go in. I'd go with you, but I'm seeing DEVO that night at Hammerstein.

Whip it good.