"Meet The Mets" x 2

It's opening day for the Mets (4:10 p.m. ET vs. the Marlins on SNY), and you know what that means...

Time to bust out the "Meet The Mets" mp3's!

Bill Katz & Ruth Robbins - "Meet The Mets (Original Version)" mp3

Yo La Tengo - "Meet The Mets" mp3 buy

The history of "Meet The Mets" is here.

See how Yo La Tengo got their name on "Kaplan's Korner" with special guest, Mets legend Ed Kranepool here.

NPR Brings R.E.M., MMJ, YLT, and VW from SXSW to YOU.

NPR Music will be webcasting four complete concert line-ups from South by Southwest next week. The concerts, featuring 20 bands, will be webcast live on npr.org/music and broadcast live on KUT, KEXP, The Current, WFUV, and WXPN. All concerts will be recorded and archived.

Here's the full line-up of NPR shows:

All Times ET/CT and Subject to Change

Wed., March 12 (Live from Stubbs)
9:00/8:00 p.m.: Johnathan Rice
10:00/9:00 p.m.: Summerbirds in the Cellar
11:00/10:00 p.m.: Papercranes
12:00 a.m./11:00 p.m.: Dead Confederate
1:00/12:00 a.m.: R.E.M.

Thurs., March 13 (Live from The Parish)
1:30/12:30 p.m.: Shout Out Louds
2:15/1:15 p.m.: Jens Lekman
3:00/2:00 p.m.: A.A. Bondy
3:30/2:30 p.m.: Yeasayer
4:15/3:15 p.m.: Bon Iver
5:00/4:00 p.m.: Vampire Weekend

Thurs., March 13 (Live from Austin Music Hall)
9:15/8:15 p.m.: The Whigs
10:30/9:30 p.m.: Yo La Tengo
12:00 a.m./11:00 p.m.: My Morning Jacket

Fri., March 14 (Live from Volume)
1:00/12:00 p.m.: Lightspeed Champion
2:00/1:00 p.m.: The Weakerthans
3:00/2:00 p.m.: Kaki King
4:00/3:00 p.m.: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
5:00/4:00 p.m.: Liam Finn
6:00/5:00 p.m.: The Whigs

Find yourself a sixer of Shiner Bock at a fancy beer store, put on some tight jeans, an ironic t-shirt, some mirrored aviators, and stand in front of the computer with the volume cranked way up. It'll almost be like being there.

AA Bondy - "There's A Reason" mp3

Papercranes - "Treasure" mp3

Yo La Tengo - "Little Eyes" mp3

The Greatest Concert Shirt Ever?...Yo La Tengo, The dB's, Eugene Mirman, Jim James @ Maxwell's, 12/6/07

I picked this shirt up at the insanely awesome Yo La Tengo Hanukkah Night #3 show at Maxwell's in Hoboken, which also featured The dB's, Eugene Mirman, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.



Genius, no? And t-shirt sales profits at these shows go to charity.

The dB's were fantastic, and I thought much better than when I saw them on the same stage last year. I was thrilled to be able to hear one of my favorite Christmas tunes, their "Home For The Holidays", live for the first time.

Eugene Mirman killed with a bunch of hilarious stuff about those strange ads that show up on the Internet asking you to vote for dopey topics like "Should Hilary Clinton Run For President"...even though she already is. He also took a poll amongst audience members about the best way to defend yourself in case you come upon a bear. One of the best answers was "Run into a bar", which Mirman liked since bears are probably not good at opening a door with a doorknob, and don't carry ID to get past the guy at the door checking ages.

YLT was just flat out great. There was literally not a moment where I thought, "I hope this song ends soon". Ira played like a man possessed, and they were joined at various moments by nearly every member of The dB's, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

Here's a shot of the amazing Yo La dB's combo...if there's a Hoboken Music Hall Of Fame, there are six shoo-in members in this photo:



Check my photo of Eugene Mirman and the set list at Brooklyn Vegan.

Yo La Tengo - "Don't Have To Be So Sad" mp3

Only Two Shows Not Sold Out Yet For Yo La Tengo Hanukkah In Hoboken

As of this morning, there are tickets left only for the Tuesday, December 4th and Monday, December 10th dates of Yo La Tengo's eight-crazy-night Hanukkah stand at Maxwell's...tickets for those dates can be bought here.

Yo La Tengo - "From a Motel 6" mp3

Yo La Tengo - "Beanbag Chair" mp3

Yo La Tengo + Mets = Best Baseball Song Ever.

It's baseball time, baby!

That means two things.

Time to get my Jose Reyes shirt out of winter storage, and time to post the coolest cover of any baseball team's theme, ever.

Yo La Tengo - "Meet The Mets" mp3 buy

How Much to Play My Humps?

Don't forget to check out WFMU on Friday at 8:00 for one of the coolest traditions in fundraising: Yo La Tengo's annual visit to the studio to take requests in exchange for donations to benefit the station. Here's the scoop direct from the news department at yolatengo.com:

That's right folks, it's that time of year again. Sorry for the short notice, but we just and I mean just got back from far far away, from the land where your Automatic Replies were going to cripple our in-box. So yes, it's short notice. Friday, March 16, 8 pm in your eastern daylight time, Georgia, James and I, along with our trusty sidekick Bruce Bennett (airlines willing), will take to the airwaves of WFMU and the cyberwaves of wfmu.org to help that most fantastic of radio stations raise money.

For three hours, we will join Pseu Braun and her co-host Gaylord Fields. Anybody who pledges enough money to the station during those three hours gets to make a request, and we will try to play it. If you've heard it before, you know that there's no spectacle in the world of entertainment quite like it. Don't miss it. All the details you need are at wfmu.org

--Ira