Cribs, Unbusted, Crazy Anton, And An extrawack! Christmas Wish.

Caught The Cribs at Mercury Lounge Monday night...a seriously loud and fun affair. Despite the drummer knocking his head falling off his chair during a set played earlier in the day at SPINhouse, the short but powerful set had the normally docile Merc crowd boppin' and pogoin' the whole time. It looked as if everyone there had a ball, and it was fun to see smiles on faces, rather than the mopey pusses that usually shuffle out toward Houston Street no matter how good the set was.

Speaking of good sets, opening band Unbusted (website - myspace), a three-piece straight off the mean streets of Martha's Vineyard, turned in a half-hour of raucous rock that fell somewhere in-between Cheap Trick and edgier Blur. Guitarist/Singer Joe Keefe (right) stood out with fantasticly non-wanky guitar leads that totally suited the songs, and the entire band played with a confidence not normally seen in that club from an out-of-town band. They sounded way better live than the MP3's on their website...but download their best song, the catchy as hell "X's & O's" here anyway. If I was a ponytailed A&R mook, I'd have my eye on them.


If you are holding tickets to the Secret Machines/Annie benefit show Thursday night at Webster Hall that TV On The Radio sadly had to pull out of, you'll be surprised to hear that Anton from Brian Jonestown Massacre has been added, and he'll play an acoustic set and DJ. He wouldn't pull his berserker act at a show to raise funds for Mercy Corps, would he?









And finally...if you are looking for the coolest holiday gift for your hippest friend, I've found it for you:

Das rite suckas, it's a Death From Above 1979 Soccer Scarf, and it makes my MetroStars scarf look like a yellow sundress. Available here.

As If I Needed Another Reason To Get My Irish On In Times Square On St. Patrick's Day...The Pogues Play Nokia In March.

I stopped by the greatest fish & chips shop in North America, A Salt And Battery on Second Avenue yesterday for a small cod, chips, and a Boddingtons, when I noticed this flyer on the front counter:



That's right, not The Popes, The Rogues, or any other false permutation that have rolled through NYC looking to cash in on drunken Irish ticket buyers...this is the honest to goodness, original line-up Pogues, complete with Shane MacGowan teetering up front.

The last time I saw MacGowan live was at the notorious Guinness Fleadh at Randall's Island about six years ago. Though he was barely coherent and vaguely vertical, his set was still excellent.

Since the St. Patty's Day show is on a Friday night, I can only guess what kind of madhouse that show in the 17th will be. Tickets apparently are not on sale yet, but since the flyers are out, I assume they'll be on sale sometime this week.

Saints preserve us.

UPDATE: The mysterious "C" from Scatter O'Light tells us tix are on sale at Noon this Saturday through TicketMaster here.

Still Waiting For "Dee Dee Drive"...

I was walking up Bowery just past CBGB this afternoon and was surprised to see this:



I knew they named that corner "Joey Ramone Place" a while ago, but everytime I looked for the sign, there was none to be found, and I assumed it/they were stolen. This one is way high up on the pole, high enough that it would take three drunken punk rock fans standing on each other's leather jacketed shoulders to swipe.

For all the commemoratively named streets, lanes, and parks around the city, this landmark is the first one to make me smile. Joey was one of the nicest and smartest musicians I've ever met, and the Ramones most certainly were one of the most important artistic influences on my life.

As I'm typing here, I'm reminded of this mural of Joe Strummer, painted on the side of the Niagara bar on Avenue A. The guy in the photo is my pal Spike, photo taken by one of his friends a few years ago. The painting of this mural is documented in the video for Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros' cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song". Strummer's another guy that struck me as kind and heartfelt when I met him...one of the few idols of mine that didn't totally disappoint me upon meeting them.

Who needs Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? As far as I'm concerned, I've got my own right here in my backyard.

Bohemian Wanksta.

What do you get when you mash-up a whole album's worth of Queen and 50 Cent?

Q-Unit.

Download "We Will Rock You In Da Club" here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Looks like either Freddie's or Fitty's lawyers aren't thrilled with the mashes (or the artwork), and the Q-Unit website appears to be off-line. However, the download above is still working.

George Best...1946-2005

"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."

A player, and a playa.

R.I.P., Georgie.

U2, Madison Square Garden, 22 Nov 05

Another fine show, though Bono's voice has got that "end-of-the-tour" raggedness. Patti Smith joined the band for a version of "Instant Karma" at the end of the show.

My two surreal moments of the night were riding the elevator with Lenny Kravitz and the amazingly beautiful girl on his arm who looked like she was scientifically bred to be a rockstar's girlfriend, and looking over to my right in the pit during U2's set to see Jimmy Fallon talking to Lars Ulrich while Lenny Kaye stood in the background.

The Redwalls and We Are Scientists @ Starland Ballroom, 17 Nov 05

Noticing a rare non-teener, emo, or metal show at Sayreville's Starland Ballroom featuring Hot Hot Heat, I looked closer to find The Redwalls and We Are Scientists as the openers. Despite the fact that I can take HHH for about three songs before I wanna spike my iPod, football-style, I couldn't pass up such a sweet one-two punch of opening bands in a setting outside of crossed-armed, chin-stroking Manhattan.

Although they have enough buzz in the city to warrant end-cap status at Other Music with their import, We Are Scientists walked onto Starland's giant stage as strangers to the very young, and very Central Jersey, crowd of kids there to see the headliners whom they know from local "alternative" station "G-Rock" (one of those stations that think Shawn Mullins is hip...). Using a combination of friendly and funny banter and straight-up rockin', WAS won the crowd over quicker than any "unknown" band I've ever seen.

They played a crazy-fun, 35 minute set of songs from their album, With Love And Squalor, which bassist Chris Cain told me after the set should be released here in the US on January 10 on Virgin. He also said they are penciled-in to headline Bowery Ballroom (where they opened for Ambulance, Ltd earlier this month) a few days after the record's out. The album's a good one, and the single "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" is catchy as hell, and features a great video of the band being chased by a giant plush bear.

The Redwalls, having rolled into town mere minutes before taking the stage without a proper soundcheck, also ripped it up with a very tight set of folky rock songs that veer toward that countrified punk sound Ryan Adams hits when he's not sure whether he wants to be Hank Williams or Joe Strummer, but with the bonus of poppy harmonies. The nine-song set slowly gathered momentum, hitting a high-point with back-to-back covers of Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood" and Bobby Troup's oft-covered "Route 66" and closing with fan-favorites "Falling Down" and "Deep".

Though not quite recieving the reception We Are Scientists were given, the crowd seemed pleased with discovering a second band to find on iTunes once they got home. Their album De Nova was recently heralded by king punk Steve Jones as "essential", and hopefully The Redwalls' non-stop touring will bring them the attention they and their record rightly deserve.

After The Redwalls set, I polished off my drink, said some goodbyes, and headed for the door before the teen-screams for the entrance of Hot Hot Heat hit hard. I passed Cain working the WAS merch table and was thrilled to see him totally surrounded two-fans-deep by kids eager to get more info and snatch up shirts and their tour EP. It's about time somebody hipped up that part of Jersey...

The Redwalls:















We Are Scientists:

Cribs, Germs, Maps, Crummy Prog Bands, and More!

An interesting interview with the woman who picks the music for The O.C. and it's series of mix discs is here. (via Boblog)

Damian Kulash of OK Go has been guest-blogging at Coolfer...his most recent post is a coherant tirade against copy-protected CD's like the ones Sony is currently trying to save face over.

Brooklyn Vegan has more info on that X show at Roseland that we told you about in October, and also details of a couple of Germs "reunion" shows (with actor Shane West taking the Darby Crash spot) at The Continental.

I got an e-mail from Murph at the always interesting False 45th, asking why I didn't mention the set by The Occasion in my post about the Art Brut/Maxwell's show. The answer was simple...I thought they Buh-LEW. I've never been one to knock bands for sucking, mostly because I'm not a performer or a musician, so I'm not gonna slag anyone for giving it a shot...so I'll let One Louder do it for me.

Wayfaring takes the Google Map and the Frappr Map concepts one further and allows you to create your own personal "Points Of Interest" map. As a test-run, I've created one here, and marked out the park where I go running every couple days listening to Annie remixes on the iPod while trying to avoid the weird guy who walks around there with the parrot on his shoulder. (via mister snitch)

And finally, the fine folks at Rvng (who brought you last week's gratis Art Brut show at Tribeca Grand, are throwing their final Fixed night there next week with The Cribs...here are the details from their mailing list email of this morning:

NEXT SATURDAY....NOVEMBER 26TH 2005

THE FINAL FIXED AT TRIBECA GRAND.

W/ SPECIAL GUESTS THE CRIBS

And as always...resident DJ's Dave P. and JDH
Illuminating the dance floor with a dance revolution!!!

@ The Tribeca Grand Hotel (sublevel)
2 Avenue of the Americas (6th & White)
NYC

10pm - 4am

FREE!!! W/ RSVP TO GETRAD@IGETRVNG.COM

Yeah, free is always good.

album review: FAUNTS "High Expectations/Low Results"

It's an understatement to say that Canada is where it's at right now in terms of state-of-the-art new music. Perhaps redeeming itself for all the Loverboy's, Celine Dion's, Corey Hart's and Alannah Myles' they've exported, they've certainly made up for it recently with the new crop of musical innovators we've seen waving the red and white flag. Recent records and tours from Arcade Fire, Hidden Cameras, Broken Social Scene/Stars/Feist/Metric and the rest of the seemingly endless Arts & Crafts roster have made Montreal and Toronto look like New York and London in terms of indie-rock geography. It may be time to add the northern Canadian city of Edmonton to the list of cities hipsters need to add to their musical maps.

Hailing from the home of Wayne Gretzky's best NHL years, Faunts are a four-piece specializing in a kind of atmospheric and beautiful sound that lends itself to comparisons to bands like Sigur Ros, Pale Saints, Slowdive, and even Red House Painters, but their formula also veers off to other places both prog and poppy, making their sound wholly unique and very compelling. Soaring guitars, distorted synths, haunting melodies, and vocals that are more instrumentation than storytelling make their debut, High Expectations/Low Results, fifty-eight minutes of intense pleasure.

This album's rollercoaster ride of tempos and emotions allow the listener to not just stay involved in listening, but challenges him to anticipate the next mood, unlike many records by the new wave of purveyors of Dreampop/Shoegaze/Floatcore that sound great at the start, but forget to change things up a bit to keep the listener from losing interest. The fact that the record has been released by Friendly Fire Recordings, home of the amazing Asobi Seksu, is a seal of quality as far as I'm concerned.

Warning: Playing this album on a quiet evening through headphones while dozing on a couch may induce feelings of levitation. I did just that the other night...very cool.

Download "Memories Of Places We've Never Been" here.
Download "What I'd Love To Hear You Say"(non-album) here.
Download "Will You Tell Me Then" here.

Buy Faunts "High Expectation/Low Results at insound.

This Is What They Call Breakfast In Shelby, NC

Last weekend, while I was volunteering as a race marshal at the New York City Marathon, my wife flew down to North Carolina to visit her family.

Get a load of this dish she was served at a place called Ryan's in Shelby. Your eyes aren't deceiving you...that really is a plate of glazed donut nubs and fried catfish, with a piece of pineapple on the side to add the illusion of some sort of healthiness. Cripes, why didn't they just sprinkle Pixy Stix over the top to boost the junk rating to an A++++ ? I forgot to ask her if this also came with a giant bottomless red tumbler full of Mello Yello.

I'm sorry I missed that trip, because she got to go to the inaugural game of the the Charlotte Checkers minor league hockey team in the new Bobcats Arena. The game I saw there last year was a total hoot, and I was really hoping to see them again this season. I was there in spirit and Polaroid, though. Here's a shot she took of one of the Checkers Girls holding a preposterous photo of me throwing gang signs with SpongeBob Squarepants at the Marathon Runners Expo a few days prior. Charlotte girls...foxy AND good sports.

Anyway, while the missus was marveling at the calorie-based performance art they call food down there, I had a ball working the race. I was stationed at the final entrance into Central Park at 59th Street, just as the runners ran around Columbus Circle to make their last dash toward the finish line. I was one of the guys who made sure the runners took the last turn in and didn't race out into traffic on Central Park West, which considering the fatigue and delirium of many of the runners at that late point in the race, turned out to be an important job.

I was amazed at how many runners ran and finished the race in ridiculous costumes. At race's end I saw Spiderman, George Bush running with Bill Clinton, a girl dressed as Wonder Woman, a dude dressed as Wonder Woman, 3 rhinoceroses running for Save The Rhino, a pair of insanely cute Japanese girls in sexy Santa outfits, a sad looking Star Wars Stormtrooper gingerly walking the final leg of the course holding his helmet, and this guy, who finished the race with quite a bit of spring in his step as he ran for testicular cancer awareness:

photo courtesy deleteyourself.

We’re Just Talking To The Kids.

I saw Art Brut's first ever American show last night at Maxwell's in Hoboken, and they were great. Singer Eddie Argos is the best live frontman I've seen since Pelle Almqvist of The Hives, and the entire band were fantastic, even on the new songs that they've not really played much live yet. Argos ventured into the crowd a few times mid-song, whipping up some frenzy while not missing a beat. At one point in the show he picked people out in the crowd and gave advice. His advice to me was to "go out and form a band. Then you can thank Art Brut for making your life better.".

It's remarkable to me that these guys don't have a record deal in the USA. As far as I know, all of the shows on this, their first American tour, are either sold out or damn-near. Either they are holding out for some sort of incredible deal, or record companies are (probably rightfully) incredibly skittish about signing bands like Art Brut who don't really fit into any of the retarded radio formats that have anything to do "rock" music these days.

Nonetheless, if you have the chance to catch the Mercury Lounge, Northsix , or Tribeca Grand shows, do it. You'll leave having had your socks rocked off, and feeling like Argos is your creepy new best friend.

Openers LEVY were a nice surprise. I'd heard a bit about them, but was not quite sure what they sounded like based upon some of the vague descriptions I'd been given. Truth is, they have a very unique sound that if comparisons must be made, would find them falling sonically somewhere between The Smiths and Coldplay, but with New York City flair. The sampler from their recent Rotten Love album they slipped me at the show sounded great in the car on the way home, and I look forward to hearing the whole thing soon. Check it for yourself...LEVY sounds & video here.

Here's how I saw Art Brut last night:








One Louder was there and dug it too.

Yo La Tengo Hoboken Chanukah Shows On Sale Tonight

********EDIT...these tickets are on sale now****************


One of New Jersey's coolest traditions, the annual "Yo La Tengo 8 Nights Of Chanukah at Maxwell's" shows in Hoboken, happens this year from 25 December through 1 January. The onsale date of these shows (which always sell out quickly) is usually a last minute surprise.

SURPRISE!

Tickets go onsale Wednesday (Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning)at Midnight here.

Good luck and mazeltov on not getting shut out this year!

Neferchici of The Boogie Down.

Because I'm all about blog fads, and also because Bob Mould says it's cool, I've created a Frappr! page for extrawack! here.

It's already paid off. My pal Corey signed in and went one further by posting this beautifully random photo of "Neferchici", whom I guess is the Egyptian Dog King of The Bronx, or something:


It could just be the two Sapporo's I had with dinner talking, but that dog cracks me up.

Anyway, put your pin on the extrawack! map and sign up here, and say hi to Neferchici while you are there.

If he starts talking about the importance of Huey Lewis, head for the door!

What girl could possibly pass up this dreamboat's post on Craigslist today?:

Come see U2 with me for FREE! Ladies only

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: XXXXXXXXXXX@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-11-04, 2:11PM EST


How would you like to come with me to see one of the best concerts of the year? Not only that, the entire night is on me, all expenses paid! I have a great pair of tickets for U2 on Thanksgiving week and I'm looking for a special young lady who's not only a big fan, but also attractive, outgoing, and doesn't mind being wined and dined.

We'll start off with dinner at a nice restaurant (unless you'd rather have Wendy's), head off to the concert, wind the evening down at a very exclusive lounge for drinks, and retreat to my place (or yours if you prefer) for some NSA fun! All you need to do is to be your charming self, look good, and we will have a great time together! Please include a picture with your email, and a few words to help me get to know you better don't hurt either.

Wow, that "retreat" to his place sounds like a gas. Sounds very Christian Bale in American Psycho to me.

Original post here.

Thursday Night, Gray's Papaya, 38th & 8th, With Mustard & 'Kraut

I'll Take Paul Lynde For The Block, Peter...Dramarama Drama...

I may have mentally scarred myself for life last night. To celebrate Halloween, and to pass the time inbetween getting off and on the couch to hand over midget Snickers bars to kids in unimaginative costumes (are The Power Rangers back? I swear I had six different Power Rangers, all of them blue, at our door last night. Maybe BigLots put a bunch of them out on their $1.99 table for the parents who couldn't be bothered with a little creativity), we watched a DVD copy of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special that I picked up at the Super Bowl of weirdo-fests, The Chiller Theatre Expo, on Friday night. The special, which featured guest stars Florence Henderson, Betty White, Tim Conway, Billy Barty, "Witchiepoo" from H.R. Pufinstuf, Donny & Marie Osmond, and KISS (playing Detroit Rock City, Beth, and King Of The Night Time World!) totally gave me the All Hallowed Eve's creeps. As expected, the show is a complete trainwreck, loaded with jokes so unfunny that they are funny in their unfunniness. Saw 2 may have won the box-office this weekend, but Paul Lynde was the king of "scary" as far as I'm concerned.

Even though you didn't show up at my door last night (as far as I know), here are a few treats for you on the web today:

spinachdip nyc is hosting this week's Big Apple Blog Festival, which is kinda like the Carnival Of The New Jersey Bloggers, but but it wears more black and less big hair. Good stuff galore.

Jim from the venerable Jersey Beat is holding a "Stupid Emo Band Publicity Photo" contest at the Jersey Beat Blog. He's also got a scathing review there of the recent Dramarama "reunion" show in Jersey:
"I'm sure that in his own mind, Easdale thinks of himself as an Eighties icon on a par with Westerberg and Stipe. In reality, he doesn't even qualify as a second-rate Pat DiNizio. The Dramarama songbook begins and ends with two classic songs and a lot of filler, and it was really shameful for the band to pad out its set like that."
Glad I didn't make that one.

Take a few seconds to see my favorite drummer who doesn't use a drum: This is rock & roll.

I've totally been enjoying cranking Devin Davis' album Lonely People of the World, Unite! in my car lately. Power-poppy in a one-man-GBV kind of way, Davis' album is crazy catchy, but also rocks a boogie groove somewhere between The Mooney Suzuki and the Kings Of Leon, all the while sounding totally original. Three MP3's from the album and three live MP3's can be had here, and an animated video for "Giant Spiders" is here.

And finally, this gem is in this week's The Onion: KISS Cover Band Guitarist Leaves To Start Vinnie Vincent Invasion Tribute Band.

White Stripes Cover Tegan & Sara, And It's Good.

The White Stripes have covered my favorite single of 2004, Tegan And Sara's excellent "Walking With A Ghost" for release on an EP to be wrapped onto "Get Behind Me Satan" to spur holiday sales. (via The Modern Age)

For the time being, download an MP3 of The White Stripes "Walking With A Ghost" here.