February 5, 2008
Checking In...
Hello wonderful people of the interwebs.
Sorry for being out of touch lately. I've been slaving away on work related web stuff 10 hours a day, seven days a week and the last thing I want to do when I have a tiny bit of downtime is get in front of the computer and blog.
So I'll just let you know that I finally get why sports fans everywhere are so obsessive about Erin Andrews. Oh and that Marissa Miller, she's also moderately attractive.
Hey, look at that! Someone else thinks R.E.M.'s Accelerate is going to be pretty good. Color me cautiously optimistic.
Oh yeah, I'm totally in agreeance with Lefsetz here. Because tickets went on sale so early, I already know what my birthday present is. But there are much worse things that going to see My Morning Jacket at Radio City Music Hall on your birthday. Thanks Ms. Smith! I promise to act surprised. I hope they do something special, like break out the luau outfits or wear those crazy boots held together by scotch tape.
BTW, I downloaded this MMJ show in MP3 format and am enjoying it thoroughly. Do any of you kind souls out there in cyberspace have the live MMJ show that was available as a podcast from the iTunes Music Store? The link there appears to be dead.
Thanks for listening to me ramble. I need to go play fetch with Mr. Pink. He gets bored easily.
See you soon soonish.
Posted by Kyle at 7:38 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
Random Shite
The R.E.M., Modest Mouse & The National tour hits the greater D.C. area on June 11th. I might have to cough up some cash for that one.
Facing the Music - Record-label woes, lineup changes, trouble at home, and an alluring new bass player on the road: a diary of a rock 'n' roll divorce from the founder of Luna. {via}
PS - Dean and Britta have a blog.
"A single newspaper photograph has triggered a debate over logging practices in the Northwest. The photo shows a clear-cut hillside that slid into a creek during last month’s Pineapple Express storms. Mud and debris in streams and rivers helped contribute to devastating record floods in Southwest Washington."
British Sea Power keyboard player in stage diving accident.
Ghostface to downloaders: 'I thought y'all motherfuckers loved me!'
Posted by Kyle at 1:01 PM | Comments (2)
January 23, 2008
Random Photography Notes & Links
I Fixed That Copyright Problem On The Internet - "I decided to take it upon myself to address the raging debate about copyright on the internet. I created an alternate internet for people who want to give their content away without attribution or payment. I’m calling it the shitternet. Just direct your browser to shit://www.yourblog.com and start grabbing stories and photos and video to make a page everyone will want to visit. This is going to be so AWESOME. It will be a place where people can mash-up and repurpose everything thats posted and consumers can go and look at the same photographs and stories and videos over and over and over again only reposted on millions of blogs. And, everyone can link everyone else until the internet resembles a giant donut."
Photographers Copyright on the Internet - "We can stand around and whine as all the little bitches who have nothing worth copyrighting tell everyone who’s listening that the law is outdated and oppressive or we can go out and defend it."
Making A Living As A Photographer - "Robert Wright delivers a couple smart posts on the business of photography and that oh so important part, many photographers overlook, making sure you treat it like a business."
70-200mm Zoom Lens Reviews - "The beauty of this type of lens is that it gives you a fast lens, wide enough focal length to be useful in many everyday applications, yet the reach to really zoom in on your subject at the 200mm end of the spectrum. They are also useful for getting some nice blur in the background when shooting a subject - leaving them as the clear focal point."
36 Hours in New York - "Photography-focused NYC trip: The city is the world's media capital, so photography not only attracts artists and shutterbugs alike, but it's also a big business, fueling everything from advertising and modeling agencies to retouching labs and frame shops."
Camerapedia - "This site is a free-content encyclopedia of camera information, a repository of information about all still camera brands and models."
Best photography books of 2007.
An interview with Michael Lewis.
Posted by Kyle at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2008
Lost Weekend
My full interview with Tom Smith of Editors is online now over on DCist.
I had to work most of the weekend (a trend that's going to continue for most of the month) so other than the Wizards / Celtics game, not much to report. DCist also has my game recap. It was a rugged affair, not exactly easy on the eyes. Going into the Celtic locker room after the game was a treat though. Kevin Garnett has the biggest set of earrings I've ever seen. Calling them obnoxious doesn't do them justice. Paul Pierce was rocking a sweet pin-striped suit. Due to the loss, the collective mood was quite somber, so I didn't ask any questions. Maybe next time.
Posted by Kyle at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2008
Programming Update
As you may have noticed, content has been rather lite thus far in 2008. I am super busy at work trying furiously to finish a HUGE project by the end of the month, so posting will be a bit sporadic until February.
But that doesn't mean I'm going away or anything. I'll still be doing the occasional Wizards write up for DCist and there are a bunch of shows coming up starting next week -- Editors, Yeaysayer, MGMT, Buffalo Tom and, of course, the start of the great Super Furry road trip of '08 that will take me up and down the East Coast.
And in the next 48 hours I'll be interviewing Tom Smith, Guto Pryce and Bill Janovitz. Whew.
So stay tuned.
Posted by Kyle at 12:46 PM | Comments (2)
January 5, 2008
Link Dump
Wedding Crashers: The Perfect Girl in Typography.
What If John Edwards and Mitt Romney Worked For the University Of Virginia Sports Information Desk? Genius.
If, like me, you missed the Radiohead New Year's Webcast, here it is.
EAR FARM's Top Ten Bands To Emerge in 2007 & Ten To Watch Out For in 2008.
2007 - The Year In Pictures from the NY Times. Do yrself a favor and check this out. Some amazing stuff here.
Kottke's Best Links 2007. I'm still digging my way through this treasure trove of goodness.
I, for one, loved the Lakers "short shorts" look against the Celtics over the New year's break. What I liked less was Lamar Odom attempting his best Sean Taylor impersonation. For those watching at home, the C's try and avenge their last loss (way back on 12/19) tonight in Detroit.
Liam Gallagher and Ian Brown to front Supergroup.
The KNDD site has some great live material available for downloading:
[mp3] The Kooks | Naive (live at the Crocodile)
[mp3] The Kooks | She Moves In Her Own Way (live at the Crocodile)
[mp3] Regina Spektor | Fidelity (live at Glenn Sound)
[mp3] Placebo | Meds (live at The Fenix)
[mp3] Bloc Party | I Still Remember (Live at Glenn Sound)
[mp3] Mew | The Zookeepers Boy (live at Glenn Sound
Posted by Kyle at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
Street Teamers Wanted
D.C.-area peeps, Beggars Banquet is looking for street teamers to help promote their upcoming shows in the area. Here are the details:
Beggars Group USA / Matador Records is looking for some folks to join their street team. Assistance would be helpful anywhere across the states though if you're in the DC area, even better!
Beggars Group and Matador Records are home to artists such as Yo La Tengo, St. Vincent, Film School, Voxtrot, Super Furry Animals, Vampire Weekend, Devendra Banhart, Cat Power, The New Pornographers and many more.
All it takes is a little bit of free time each week and a love of music. Perks include free entry into Beggars/Matador shows, free records and other goodies.
If interested or for further information please send an email along to ClaireTaylor@Beggars.com with "Street Team" in the subject line.
For a list of all Beggars/Matador artists check out www.beggarsgroupsusa.com & www.matadorrecords.com.
Posted by Kyle at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)
January 4, 2008
David Lynch on the iPhone*
* kinda
[via kottke]
Posted by Kyle at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 30, 2007
The Weather Is Here...
And so am I.
Posted by Kyle at 7:48 PM | Comments (1)
December 5, 2007
All Together Now
Detour Magazine interviewed yours truly earlier in the week.
I had an impromptu photo shoot with Mr. Pink the other day. Head over to Flickr for the full results.
The more I read about Facebook, the more it scares the shit out of me.
The Heroes Season 2 finale, yeah, it was pretty meh.
Now you can edit photos in Flickr.
This is the funniest thing I've seen on the interwebs in quite some time.
D.C. United will open their season on March 29 in Kansas City. The home opener is shortly thereafter v. Toronto. United is having their equipment sale on Friday. I can't go. Bah. Someone buy me a Facundo Erpen jersey. That's all I want for Xmas.*
Speaking of MLS... The Curious Economics of the Designated Player.
Wow, I guess the Red Sox are the new Yankees. Not sure how I feel about that.
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends interviews Travis.
Editors are touring the US again in January.
Morrissey to NME: You have been pwned. Oh, and Moz signed a new record deal with Decca.
Dead Flowers has one of my favorite songs by Lush for your downloading pleasure.
The Super Furries are giving away MP3s for Xmas presents.
The Raveonettes are back with a new record, called Lust, Lust, Lust. Here's a taste:
[MP3] The Raveonettes | Ally, Walk With Me
* not entirely true.
Posted by Kyle at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2007
It’s All About the Crown
Rejoice.
The Wire, aka the best effing show on TV, graces the airwaves once again beginning January 6th! I guess I have to renew my HBO Subscription.
Peep five new promos for Season Five.
Posted by Kyle at 4:31 PM | Comments (1)
October 25, 2007
Ha
I followed a referral link to one of those new aggregation sites that pull in yr info from the 37 various web services you (we) all use on a daily basis and this is what was displayed from my site:
I think my work is done here, people. Thank you and goodnight.
To celebrate, we'll be pre-gaming at Bar Pilar (they have TV's) before Jen Lekman tonight.
Say 8ish?
Feel free to RSVP by email.
Posted by Kyle at 2:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Thaw Session
By now you surely seen/downloaded/heard "The Thaw Session" by The Verve(and if you haven't, hop to it!), which is basically their first rehearsal after reforming. I'm kinda on the fence about it, but I think Frank makes an excellent point:
At least it sounds like The Verve and not solo Richard Ashcroft.
Urban Hymns was good and all, but it's no Northern Soul. Because Northern Soul is straight-up Godhead. When Ashcroft sang "I'm gonna die alone in bed," you had no reason to doubt him (back then. Shame.) Still, I think this bodes well for the future. Also, this finally gives me a reason to put together my favorite Verve b-sides into a post, something I've been meaning to do for about three years now. "Back On My Feet Again," anyone? Best.
Also, I vote yes on the Ride reunion. But only if they play "Time Machine." Otherwise, forget it.
Kegzies also has the new Oasis track for you to download in case you can't pony up the 99 cents (or $3.50 depending on what the exchange rate is at now). This track is straight fire though. Me likey.
Via BV, NYC Taper has last night's Morrissey show from Hammerstien Ballroom. The set list is looking pretty sweet ("Jack The Ripper" is back!, but "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" is gone), so I'm getting excited about the two times I'm going to see him next week. Yes, I am going to see him even though I am still pissed at the way he handled the last tour. My Rams Head tickets cost me $75! Ouch.
Lastly, Veronica Mars - The Complete Third Season
Posted by Kyle at 12:35 PM | Comments (1)
October 5, 2007
Weekend Ahead
Lots of good shows this weekend:
Friday:
Child Ballads & These United States (and a whole lot of other bands) @ 9:30 Club
Child Ballads MySpace
These United States MySpace
The Brunettes & Ferraby Lionheart @ RnR Hotel
The Brunettes My Space
Ferraby Lionheart MySpace
Saturday:
Voxtrot w/ The Little Ones @ the Black Cat
[MP3] Voxtrot | Kid Gloves
The Little Ones MySpace
Sunday:
Pinback @ 9:30 Club
[MP3] Pinback | Manchuria
[MP3] Pinback | Lyon
Two Gallants & Blitzen Trapper @ RnR Hotel
[MP3] Two Gallants | The Hand That Held Me Down
[MP3] Two Gallants | Despite What You've Been Told
Blitzen Trapper MySpace
I'll be at the Voxtrot show, but other than that, I've already promised my weekend to the Red Sox.
Posted by Kyle at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 1, 2007
Adventures In Solitude
Guess what I did yesterday? Sat on the couch, watched football and drank beer. All day. It was glorious. The only thing that would have been better was having some baseball on yesterday as well. BTW, you're welcome Philly.
Did you know Radiohead has a new record coming out in 9 days? And you can pay whatever you want for the download version? Probably not, unless you were on the internet. Because it's on every effing site everywhere. Good lord. While I'm excited for the new record, I'm more curious as to what this means for the industry.
Some people were rather unimpressed:
"Oh...about the ordering. How did it go? It was miserable. The site was slow, I had to re-enter my credit card number and I had to make six attempts at the security code before my order was accepted."
Some [via Dead Flowers] declared the end of days for the record industry:
"This feels like yet another death knell," emailed an A&R executive at a major European label. "If the best band in the world doesn't want a part of us, I'm not sure what's left for this business."
I love quotes like this, because God fucking forbid any of these labels even try something innovative like this. They sit around doing the same thing for every record they release and wonder why it's not working.
Lastly, some people said it was about effing time:
"R.E.M. went for the cash They could have gone indie. Turns out re-signing with Warner was a good move, for they never sold tonnage again, despite getting PAID for selling tonnage. Springsteen went for the check. As did Neil Young...This is big news. This says the major labels are fucked. Untrustworthy with a worthless business model. Radiohead doesn’t seem to care if the music is free. Not that they believe it will be. Because believers will give you ALL THEIR MONEY!"
I'll probably pony up for the digital version, but not the $80 deluxe physical edition. If you can't wait nine days, Matt Picasso points us to a live compilation of all the new songs.
Curiously, The Charlatans are flat out giving away their new record, but aren't getting anywhere near the press in the blogosphere. But that's nothing new for The Charlies, is it?
TV networks discover life without iTunes. I've never downloaded any TV shows from iTunes, but after reading this bit of news about NBC, I'm skeptical if this will work. I'm constantly amazed at how senior execs in the entertainment industry don't pay attention.
Bose founder discusses audio perfection and digital music.
We paved paradise. So why can't we find any place to park? Because parking is one of the biggest boondoggles -- and environmental disasters -- in our country. Interesting read.
Posted by Kyle at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)
September 29, 2007
In Hiding
Let's all wish Ms. Smith a very happy birthday!
We had the birhday party/housewarming party last night. Thanks to everyone for coming out. I'll be contacting you all very soon to plan the follow up party so we can drink all the leftover booze.
Now that the party is over, I can officially call to a close three of the most hectic weeks in recent memory. Here's a list of some of the things I won't be doing in the next few days:
Tonight: Le Loup & These United States @ Black Cat
Sunday: Okkervil River @ RocknRoll Hotel (gave my tickets to Jason)
Monday: Matt Pond PA @ 9:30 and Patrick Wolf @ Black Cat
Tuesday: Jose Gonzalez @ 9:30 Club
Nope, none of that. I'm taking a few days off.
I will however be wearing my Red Sox hat with pride.
Posted by Kyle at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2007
McNulty + Drinking Again = Longest Wait Ever
Yes please. [via Matt]
For this show to go out with a bang, McNulty needs to be a big, drunken mess. Bunk too.
I forgot to mention when I did my Whartscape coverage that McNulty was there on the first night. I have a really grainy photo somewhere. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.
Posted by Kyle at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2007
Nine Eleven Comes Every Year
A few people have asked if I was planning anything special today as it's the sixth anniversary of 9/11. I don't think so. I said everything I needed to say last year. I'm not sure I have anything to add right now. So instead I'll point you to a few things and let you go to work:
- My 9/11 photos
- 5th anniversary post from last year
- Allan Tannenbaum's photographs: 9-11 Still Killing
- Shattered: 9-11 photo from James Nachtwey
I had hoped to have my wedding photos from last weekend up today but last night's storm knocked out my internet for most of the night so look for them tomorrow.
Instead, here is some music apropos for today:
[MP3] The National | About Today
[MP3] Elbow | Any Day Now
[MP3] The Connells | Stone Cold Yesterday
[MP3] The Spinanes | Sunday
Posted by Kyle at 10:41 AM | Comments (4)
September 10, 2007
Question.
Was MTV paying people to live blog the VMA's last night? WTF?
Posted by Kyle at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2007
iPod Touch
I will totally buy one of the new iPod Touch models that was released today...as soon as they increase the storage from a paltry 16 gb. I've been telling Ms. Smith I'd be interested in the iPhone without the phone part, and that's exactly what this is. If only the storage capacity wasn't so crappy.
On the other hand, the new 160 gb iPod looks pretty tempting. New Nanos too.
More over at Gizmodo.
Posted by Kyle at 2:00 PM | Comments (2)
September 4, 2007
Upcoming
Busy week this week.
Tonight: Editors @ 9:30 Club
Tomorrow: The National @ 9:30 Club
Sunday: New England Revolution @ D.C. United
Also this week but not pictured: Jon Miller's wedding on Saturday.
Posted by Kyle at 4:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2007
Monday Reading
The NY Times on Rick Rubin.
The WaPo on The Wire filming its last episode. *sniff*
The Guardian interviews David Beckham, who might be returning to England once the MLS season is over.
Posted by Kyle at 5:15 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2007
Weekend To Do List
Friday
Tonight brings us an early drinkathon at the D.C. Sports Blogger Happy Hour (which I never got around to making a flyer for - sorry Jamie).
The late drinkathon brings us to a house party on or around O street. Tomorrow morning's gonna hurt.
Saturday
Still waiting on word about my White Stripes tickets, they are playing at GMU's Patriot Center.
If that falls through The Velvet Lounge has an excellent show that will be my back-up plan. Donny Hue & the Colors, Nethers Nikki solo and the Griznar Musical Collective. Donny Hue & the Colors features Aaron and Mike of Nethers and Olivia and Randy from Washington Social Club. I still haven't seen Nethers perform this year (!!!!) and this looks to be my best chance for the foreseeable future. Plus Nikki and Olivia are two of my favorite artists (if not my two favorite artists) in the city, so I'm hoping I can maybe see both shows.
[MP3] Donny Hue & the Colors | Real Long Time
Sunday
After sleeping in, I have a sports filled night ahead of me. I'm thinking about heading out The Goodman League in the early afternoon to see if I can get a spot for the 7 p.m. game which is supposed to feature Agent Zero v. Kevin Durant. Like Woah. D.C. United face Mexico's Club America at RFK in Superliga action at 8 p.m.
No rest for the weary!
Posted by Kyle at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2007
New Rule
And that new rule is from now on I'm keeping my fucking mouth shut until after the fact whenever big things happen or I get big news. Otherwise the news keeps getting rescheduled. First the Morrissey gigs and now the thing yesterday, which I can't talk about because it might still happen. But I digress...
Not sure what everyone else's plans for the weekend are, but I'll be heading to the land of people that don't drive so good, aka Maryland, to take in Whartscape, which gets shadier and shadier the more I find out about it. If there are no posts on this site on Monday, call the cops. But since I'm a music blogger, I guess I'm duty bound to go check out Dan Deacon. Seriously though, seeing Spankrock should be fun.
One show I'm sad to miss on Sunday night is the Bishop Allen show. DCeiver won't freakin' shut up about them. They're his [insert name of whatever band I'm obsessing about this week].
Here are some MPfree's of theirs:
[MP3] Bishop Allen | Rain
[MP3] Bishop Allen | Click Click Click Click
Did anyone else watch the MLS All-Star game last night? If not you missed the interview with David Beckham at halftime. The one in which he said he probably wouldn't play on Saturday against Chelsea. While he was saying that ESPN ran a graphic on the screen that said "Will make his U.S. debut Saturday v. Chelsea." So I guess this weekend we'll find out who's really running things in the Beckham camp.
Two other news items of note, both regarding photography.
First is the NFL making photographers wear vests with sponsor logos, which is total BS. That's a good way to be seen as impartial, no? Wearing a vest with Reebok and Canon logos on it?
Second is the whole Band of Horses hates cameraphones, which I totally agree with. I always find it funny how publicists stress to me "NO FLASH" whenever I get a photo pass at the 9:30 Club. I never say it, but the people they really need to worry about are everyone with Point and Shoots and cameraphones. They're the ones snapping away with their flashes. Not the "pros"* (with a few notable exceptions). I also can never understand why people standing at the back of the venue try and take pictures on their cell phones. They're way too far away from the action and it just comes out as this big unidentifiable glob of bad lighting. And yes, I am a camera snob.
At the same time, I realize that more and more people are bringing their cameras to shows and it can get annoying. That said, I rarely go to a show without my camera. DSLR's are fairly cheap now and more and more people are getting into photography. I'm not sure what the breaking point is going to be, but we'll get their soon.
For bigger shows, I just try and get my shots and get out of the way so people can enjoy the show. That's why I don't mind the "First three / no flash" rule at concerts for photo passes. I can never tell you what happens during the first three songs of a show I'm shooting, because I'm busy working and not really paying attention to the music. At the Travis show I totally forgot they played "Writing to Reach You" because they played it third and I was too busy working my way to the center of the venue to get a better vantage point to stop and listen. So I totally buy the "People are too busy messing with their cameras to enjoy the show" argument. But after the third song, I put my camera away and enjoy the show like everyone else. In most cases I also move to the back of the venue, so if I grabbed someone else's spot while I was battling for position up front, I can give it back to them. People are generally cool with that and I certainly try and be as unobtrusive as I can be (given the fact that I have all this gear hanging around my neck and waist). There are right ways and wrong ways to go about all of this. I guess what I'm trying to day is get your shots early and then put everything away and enjoy the show. A win/win for everyone.
* Please note I don't consider myself a "pro." I always tell people I'm a professional amateur, which I think is about right.
Posted by Kyle at 2:15 PM | Comments (2)
July 16, 2007
Weekend Recap
So then, my weekend in a nutshell:
Friday
Friday night Ms. Smith and I ventured to the Black Cat to see The Vita Ruins. They were giving away free copies of their E.P., Thanks For Your Concern (But We're OK), so I grabbed a few for you readers (more on that in a sec). The band sound not unlike Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- swirling, feedback-drenched guitars, sinister vocals and a driving back beat. They're obviously big shoegazer fans, which is always a good thing in my book. They drew a decent amount of people to the show, many of which were photographers, causing one person to remark "I've never seen so many photographers for a band I've never heard of." I'll be sending the copies of the E.P. I snagged as a consolation prize to those that didn't win those Editors CD's. So keep an eye on your inbox if you entered.
Saturday
Saturday I ran errands during the day (I need a new camera bag) and tried to stay out of the heat. Later that night I took in the D.C. United v. FC Dallas match at RFK. Expect a short recap on DCist later today.
Sunday
Can you name a better way to spend Sunday than drinking beer, eating BBQ and watching football? I think not. My only complaint was that the Brazil v. Argentina match was such a snoozer. Oh well. I spent the rest of the night editing photos. Exciting, no?
Posted by Kyle at 3:27 PM | Comments (0)
July 2, 2007
Did Steve Tell You That Perchance?
Yes, sometime my lyrics are sexist
But you lovely bitches and ho's should know
I'm trying to correct this.
Brilliant. Methinks HBO hitched it's wagon to the wrong show.
Posted by Kyle at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2007
Me As A Simpsons Character
Make yours here. Post a link!
Posted by Kyle at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2007
Good Morning. Lethargy.
Quite the weekend. Coolfer came down for a visit, so we did it up like proper tourists. I took him to the Museum of Natural History (where I took the above photo) and the National Archives on Saturday afternoon. That evening we grabbed Mike Grass and went to Ms. Smith's pad for some pre-game burritos. Later that night we watched the Nats lose to the Land of Cleve Indians when Nook Logan got picked off of third for the last out. Nice one. We (we being everyone that was still drinking - I was driving) ended up at Wonderland for a nightcap.
Sunday, after some lady rear ended the leafmobile (only minor damages and no one was hurt) we took in the zoo during the morning and then Mike and I went to watch the first half of the Gold Cup final right after Coolfer hopped on the bus back to NYC. At halftime I wandered over to the Warehouse for the DCist photog meet-up/happy hour. I stayed there for a few hours before heading home and crashing. Whew.
Here's the game winner from the Gold Cup. Nice one!
Lastly, Okkervil River have announced a date at the Rock n' Roll Hotel on Sept. 30th.
[MP3] Okkervil River | Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Oh, I almost forgot. Some of my photos are up over on Express today.
Posted by Kyle at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2007
Awesome.
The events leading to Oceanic Flight 815's crash, in succession.
Posted by Kyle at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
A lot of monuments are a bit rubbish...
...but this really is a pile of crap.
Posted by Kyle at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2007
Shorties
Celtics trade rumors and proposals are flying fast and furious on many a Celtics message board. Do we want to trade Theo, #5 and Gerald Green to Atlanta for Joe Johnson, Shelden Williams and #11? What about a sign and trade with Seattle netting Rashard Lewis for only Theo and Delonte West? Maybe Shawn Marion excited you more? He can be had for a package similar to the proposed deal with Atlanta. My head's about to explode at the possibilities. Could not landing one of the top two picks in the draft be the best case scenario for us?
Vote for Ben Olson's goal as MLS Goal of the Week! Vote, damn you! If you want to see photos from Sunday's hot United on Red Bull action, just go here.
Huffington Post, when you need a quote for a contentious sports story, who do you turn to? A blogger credentialed by both MLS and the NBA, that's who.
Kristen Bell, aka Catherine's new best friend (nope, not jealous AT ALL), hearts Veronica Mars.
Related: Veronica Mars, Season Four?
OMG! Big fucking robots are coming!
The new Paulie Walnuts Sopranos spin-off.
What’s the final price of a concert ticket? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS!
Posted by Kyle at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2007
Son, There's A Panty On Your Head
That the best Sopranos article and discussion I've seen today is happening over on Deadspin. You know, the sports blog. Will also gets cool points for referencing Raising Arizona (aka the best. movie. ever) in his Gilbert post.
As for the Sopranos finale, I loved it. The last five minutes had me so stressed out I thought I was going to puke. And that my friends, is good TV.
Posted by Kyle at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)
June 8, 2007
Never Hear The End Of It
I got home from dinner with Ms. Smith around 10 last night, fed the Mister and settled in for some channel surfing between basketball, soccer and National Team soccer but my cable and internet were out. Apparently my whole neighborhood had an outage. Thanks Comcast! So I totally missed Lebron sucking and I didn't see Clint Dempsey find the back of the net. That was bad, but I also didn't see this, which is probably for the best. I hate ESPN. I'll be making the trip to Babylon Futbol Cafe in Arlington over the weekend to take in the Gold Cup matches there.
Also notable, assuming there are no ticket snafus like I experienced for Bloc Party (not on the list) and The Bravery (on the list, but didn't find out until this morning), I will be shooting my first ever arena show tonight when I travel out to the Patriot Center to see Nelly Furtado and Kenna. Should be interesting. Does Nelly F. do anything off of her first record, or does she completely disown it?
Posted by Kyle at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2007
Finally!
Movable Type 4 is out in Beta. They're also going open source.
Hopefully this means good things for MT. I'm going to give it a shot before deciding if I jump ship to Wordpress.
Posted by Kyle at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2007
Maybe Losing Veronica Wasn't So Bad After All
That is, if we would have been forced to watch this. No Keith Mars, no Logan and no Wallace (who was seriously underused in Season 3).
And no, I haven't watched the last two episodes yet, so don't say anything about them. Tonight hopefully.
Thx to Goldenfiddle for the link.
Posted by Kyle at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2007
We'll Always Have the DVDs
Veronica Mars has been canceled by the CW. I'm sad.
Posted by Kyle at 2:07 PM | Comments (1)
May 15, 2007
The Suspense Is Killing Me
As if waiting for the NBA Lottery wasn't bad enough, I still have to deal with this crap until Thursday.
Posted by Kyle at 6:15 PM | Comments (0)
May 7, 2007
A Quick One Before I'm Away
I'm back at the office today but tomorrow I'm heading out to Vegas for the rest of the week. Funny thing is, after drinking myself silly in Europe for the last 11 days, I'm in no mood to hit any bars, and I'm pretty much broke from the trip, so perhaps I'll be the first person ever to go to Vegas and not drink or gamble. Oh, who am I kidding? I have to put some money (one way or the other) on the Warriors, right?
Also, on Saturday I'll be shooting both the DC101 Chili Cook-off and The Kooks show later that night at the 9:30 Club. So hang in there. Real content will return shortly.
I'm down to 53 emails in my inbox (not counting the 273 that were awaiting me at work this morning), and my Bloglines count is down to an almost manageable 2155. Whew.
I was still jet lagged on Sunday so I started editing all the photos I took on vacation. I should have all that stuff for your consumption sometime next week.
Here were two things that I found on the interweb over the weekend while I was trying to catch up:
Someone (other than me) actually wrote the following sentence: "If there were a course on concert photography, Kyle (aka leafblower) would be a likely candidate to teach it."
Also, Chuck Palahniuk's Choke has been optioned and pre-production on the movie will start in June! Sam Rockwell will star as the protagonist. I ordered a copy of Rant right before I left, but the Post Office is holding all my mail and I won't be able to get it until next week. Boo!
As if I didn't have enough going on over the weekend, I took in D.C. United's win over Chivas USA at The Bobby yesterday. Here are a few pics:
You can see the entire photo set here.
Posted by Kyle at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
May 5, 2007
Back Like That
Email totals like this make me nauseous. Effing Spammers. Now you know what I'll be doing for the next day and half. And you all thought blogging was glamorous. I am officially accepting suggestions for a new spam management tool (or tools) in Movable Type and your help is appreciated.
I am back in D.C. after 12 long hours of traveling today. What did I miss?
I'm happy to report on that we had a wonderful time and didn't see a single drop of rain on the entire trip until we landed at National today.
I missed Mr. Pink terribly and he is very glad to have me back. So much so that he won't shut up. I can't bring myself to tell him I have to go to Vegas on Tuesday. Many, many thanks to Amanda, Jason and Michele for looking after the little guy when I was gone.
Posted by Kyle at 6:29 PM | Comments (3)
April 24, 2007
Gutentag! auf Wiedersehen!
You know that trip to Europe that I keep going on about?
Ms. Smith and I leave today!
Here's the schedule:
April 24 - Fly to Cologne, Germany - take train to Amsterdam
April 25 & 26 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
April 27 & 28 - Antwerp, , Belgium
April 29 & 30 - Brussels, Belgium
May 1 - Cologne, Germany
May 2 & 3 - St. Goar, Germany
May 4 - Cologne, Germany
May 5th - Fly home
If we're lucky, our trip will be alot like this:
See ya soon!
While I'm gone, you can check out some Mr. Pink, peruse the Bukowski archives, take a look at either my NBA photos from this season or my favorite concert photos.
Posted by Kyle at 8:20 AM | Comments (1)
April 19, 2007
Essential
While I applaud Grambo's redesign and the new look and feel of the venerable whatevs dot org blogging behemoth, I can't help but shed a tear for everything that was (apparently) left behind in the move.
And by that I mean the back blogs and all the brilliance held there, specifically for this entry, which I am confident any and all FOW's will agree was the best back blog of. all. time. In it, we debated THE song of the 90's. Peabs nominated "Blue" by the Jayhawks, Grambo repped for the only Britpop song that still matters, I threw my weight behind Underworld's "Born Slippy." Mind grapes were squeezed, many others weighed in and the discussion that ensued was, in a word, classic. It's a shame that the whole exchange was (apparently) lost for future generations of FOW's to read.
I bring all of this up, not to knock Grambo (far from it - I'm glad he's back up and running at full steam) only to reminisce a bit on the good ol' days and also to point you to The Tripwire, where they have the entirety of the BBC special documentary on the making of "Common People." I know what you're thinking, "An hour documentary specifically on the creation of and reaction to a single song?" Yes, and it is just as awesome as it sounds. And since I don't recall a BBC doc on "Born Slippy" I guess Grambo was right.
PS - Have you seen Jarv lately? Total effing rock star.
Posted by Kyle at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
Dagger!
Shed a tear for Veronica if this is true.
San Francisco, CA: How come Veronica Mars wasn't included on the USA Today "save or axe" survey? Has it's fate already been decided?
Robert Bianco: Yes. According to our reporter Gary Levin, the show has been cancelled. And he's almost always right about such things.
So much for winning the Save One Show poll. Bah.
[via]
Posted by Kyle at 3:35 PM | Comments (1)
April 12, 2007
I Would Be Remiss
If I didn't mention the passing of the great Kurt Vonnegut.
R.I.P.
PS - This is awesome. [via Deadspin]
Posted by Kyle at 5:32 PM | Comments (1)
April 6, 2007
On Call
Express interviews Eddie Izzard.
"I'm like a superhero, like the Human Torch. I can do flame on, flame off." Brilliant.
I still haven't watched this week's episode of The Riches, so don't tell me what happened.
Baseball widgets for your desktop. Go Sox!
Much like most big name touring bands, stupid Chuck Palahniuk appears to be skipping D.C. on his upcoming book tour. I almost fainted when I saw he's doing a reading with Irvine Welsh in NYC and Elmore Leonard in Philly. Jeezy Creezy!
Road trip?
Dan Steinberg is The Hot Pocket. Also, Agent Zero is out for the year. That makes me sad. On the other hand, Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson appear to be done for the year and that makes me very happy.
Who else is excited about the Sly and the Family Stone catalog reissues?
Oasis to record a new version of "Sgt. Pepper"...with the Killers? WTF?
I just scored tickets to see Cloud Cult next week. A while back, Peabs wouldn't shut up about them, so I'm excited to see what all the fuss is about.
Another group I'm liking lately is The Cinematics. The Tripwire has an MP3 you should download. Very Editors-errific.
Have you heard the new Art Brut songs?
Stream "Pump Up The Volume."
Stream "Nag Nag Nag Nag."
Posted by Kyle at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 4, 2007
Hallelujah Eureko!
30 Rock vanquishes Studio 60 and is renewed for a second season!
This means you should use all of your votes for Veronica! Obvs. Season Four is supposed to be teh awesome.
Posted by Kyle at 3:45 PM | Comments (1)
April 3, 2007
Waiting For Slow Songs
I hate Florida. Eff them. Although Corey Brewer is the real deal. He can play on the C's any day as far as I'm concerned.
On the other hand, this is totally best. The Seattle Weekly went to a Sonics game with freaking Tom Robbins! Yes, that Tom Robbins. I had no idea he was born in Blowing Rock, NC. Awesome. If you didn't read Another Roadside Attraction in college, you didn't get your money's worth.
That's basically all I got for today. I have a few things going on tonight, depending on how everything shakes out. Ms. Smith and I will hopefully be heading to the Rock n Roll Hotel to peep The Long Winters. But if that falls through, we'll be hanging out down the street from my apartment in Arlington with a bunch of DC United maniacs, taking in the Chivas game.
Also tonight is the Sebadoh show at the 930 Club. Loyal leafblower reader C.C. was aghast at my lack of Sebadoh coverage around these parts. She was even nice enough to offer me a free ticket to tonights gig! Unfortunately for reasons stated above, I can't make it (thanks though!) but I told her I would do my best to let everyone know about the gig. So, consider it done. Also, have you checked out the Sebadoh web page recently? They have a boat load of bootlegs available for downloading. For free.
Posted by Kyle at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Learnt My Lesson Well
Morrissey tour dates, onsale and presale details for the upcoming US tour.
So despite threatening to go to 437 shows this week, my total thus far is zero. My Decemberists tickets never materialized on Monday(no big deal, I stayed home and watched The Riches instead - anyone else LOVING this show? Eddie Izzard + Minnie Driver = me watching) and I wasn't supremely motivated to go to the Say Hi To Your Mom show last night. Blah. Ms. Smith and I went and had dinner and drinks instead.
But fear not, I'm kicking it into high gear tonight, assuming my Cold War Kids tickets actually materialize. Tomorrow I now have two shows on the docket, and it's all Frank's fault. He more or less convinced me to go see Dean & Britta (they're playing Luna tunes!!) so I'm going to try and see Love of Diagrams and the first three songs of Ted Leo and then jet over to the Cat to catch D&B. Tune in Friday to see if I'm able to say "I Love it when a plan comes together." Last time I tried to do something like this, it ended up in shambles. But at least The National put on a great show.
Speaking of The National, I'm assuming you've already downloaded their new track, right? It is positively lovely. If not, here it is:
[MP3] The National | Fake Empire
I still have record reviews to come, but has anyone else heard the Albert Hammond Jr. record? I'm seven songs in and it's really fucking good.
Here's an awesome interview with Agent Steinz!
I don’t have a MySpace page. Life is too short to cavort with fake friends.
10 must have Firefox extensions.
Thirty ways to get more out of Gmail.
Yahoo mail to offer unlimited storage.
The human eye is equivalent to a 576 megapixel camera and has a nighttime ISO of 800 (~1 during the daytime). Wow, just think about the kind of storage the iPod (in your mind) has!
Posted by Kyle at 1:07 PM | Comments (2)
March 20, 2007
A Design For Life
I've been doing a whole lot of research lately on the whole Movable Type v. Wordpress argument, mostly because 1) I know a few people that have all but given up on MT and are planning to switch their platforms (although not necessarily to WP) in the next year or so and 2) I am getting the itch to redesign this site. I'm not ready to give up on MT yet, although I could be convinced otherwise. All those themes look cool and it seems like you can do alot with them.
So consider this a plea for help in the redesign. Anyone out there want to lend me a hand? If so, please drop me a line (email address over on the right). I have a very good idea of what I want to do (more or less), I just need help in the execution. I am happy to compensate you for your work, although I would prefer to pay in CD's and concert tickets. Obvs.
Posted by Kyle at 11:15 AM | Comments (1)
March 19, 2007
Real Quick
Swamped at work today.
Bracket Update:
1st in the blogger battle
3rd in the DCist pool
Tied for ninth in the office pool
Haven't check the Deadspin pool yet.
Not too shabby. Thanks Vandy!
Did you know John Darnielle was on Flickr?
So is Bobby Boswell. I was his first friend. I'm honored. No, really. Bobby B is celebrating his 24th birthday (Youngster!) at Love tomorrow night. I RSVP'ed and figure I'll go check it out before heading over to the Black Cat to catch Mew. Hopefully I'll be able to get some incriminating photos of Kyle Sheldon, my D.C. United doppleganger. If you're in D.C. and want to tag along, all you have to do is click on the link above.
SXSW is finally over! Rejoice! Unfortunately, we'll still have to read about it for the next week. I'll save you some time. This is the only gig worth reading about (which, strangely, no blogger seemed to attend) and you can get everything you need from Central Village's liveblog, Chromewaves recaps and Dan's photos. I lovelovelove this photo. I want a wide lens!
Related: How much should all that free music cost everyone a year? Fifty dollars. Sign me up.
I link to this only because I love revisionist history. I guess the UK press have switched sides again.
Shhhhhhhh...TrueHoop has quietly launched on ESPN's bandwidth.
Posted by Kyle at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2007
Now You're Just Piling On
For fuck's sake. Today is not the day for this crap.
[via the person that turned me on to VM]
Posted by Kyle at 10:59 AM | Comments (1)
March 14, 2007
The History Of Blogging
So true. And yes, even though I've never used Twitter, I'm totally guilty here.
[via the newest must-read in my RSS feed, Strange Attractor]
Posted by Kyle at 10:10 AM | Comments (2)
March 12, 2007
Weekend Recap
Well, the first ever DCist Exposed show went off better than any of us could have hoped for. We had, by some accounts, around 600 people (!!!) come through the door at The Warehouse to take everything in, which is just phenomenal. I spent most of the night running around like crazy, alternating from charming host, to crowd control, to raffle ticket seller, to guy with a cold chugging as much OJ as possible to try and stay healthy. It was an exhausting night, but totally worth it.
Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the night was meeting Kevin Anderson, who's blog I happened upon earlier in the week. When I saw that he would be in town for the show, I invited him on whim, not thinking much of it, but he came and we had a great time chatting. He's incredibly knowledgeable about blogging and it was a treat to pick his brain for a little while. We also had all sorts of local media types, from Fox 5 to a few WaPo writers. I hereby declare DCist Exposed a resounding success. Congrats to Heather for being the driving force behind such a great event.
Don't forget, the exhibit is up through Friday, so go check it out!
Unfortunately the opening left me too bushed to make it to the Black Cat to see my beloved Nethers headline the main stage. Did anyone else go? How was it? I was gutted not to go, but it was for the best.
I spent the rest of the weekend watching movies with Ms. Smith (The DaVinci Code, not as bad as I was lead to believe) and immersing myself in conference tourney hoops. I must have watched eight games over the weekend. Best. I'll have my thoughts on the NCAA's later this week (VCU scares the shit out of me), but in the meantime, let me ask you this:
Julian Wright: Bernard King or Billy Owens?
I'm not sure.
I'm really digging the new Travis video for "Closer."
Ted Leo stopped by The Interface! Grab the podcast.
The Guardian's 10 essential albums for Spring.
How Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse. I guess I have to go see them when they tour now.
I'm not sure if I should be excited or sad about this news. I like that they're working with someone other than Pat McCarthy (Who I love, but they needed a new direction) but I'm worried this will turn into The Stones working with the Dust Brothers.
Unexpected. Hope it works out better for them than it did for these guys.
Posted by Kyle at 1:34 PM | Comments (2)
March 8, 2007
Pay Attention It's Not Hard To Decipher
The latest can't miss event / project that I'm involved with comes your way tomorrow night. I am super-excited about DCist's first ever photo exhibit at The Warehouse on 7th Street. Heather's worked her ass of to make this thing happen and it's getting written up everywhere. We're gonna have an awesome opening reception, so grab your friends and get there early.
And if that wasn't enough fun for one night, we'll be heading over to the Black Cat post-opening reception in order to catch Nethers, who are headlining a show with These United States! I am so there. Nethers have been in L.A. for a few months recording their new record, so it'll be great to see them for the first time in 2007. They're playing like 18 shows at SXSW, so if you're not in D.C., you can catch them there.
The Tripwire has a new track by AIR and a great interview with Jarvis Cocker.
10 things you didn't know about Ted Leo. [thx Frank]
Watching The Watchmen. Yes, please.
Hey, did you read my Wizards recap from Tuesday's game? If you did, you saw that one of my questions to Gilbert ended up in the official AP report (check the 'Notes' section). Hott.
I haven't heard the new Arcade Fire record yet, but I checked this morning and it's on eMusic, so I'll probably grab it tonight. I'm sure it's saffron-infused, snackytime junction vibe will keep the chupacabra-like, Steven Bochco-esque blogoshpere all atwitter, that is, if you care about perambulations like that.
Posted by Kyle at 1:03 PM | Comments (2)
February 28, 2007
Be Cool
Wayne Coyne on creating your own happiness. Raise your hand if you knew he worked as a fry cook for 11 years at a Long John Silver's. [thx Tankboy]
Extra credit: Be cool to the pizza dude.
Best blog fights of 2006. Early favorite for best blog fight of 2007? How about everyone v. Movable Type or Six Apart v. Auttomatic.
See! Oasis don't slag EVERYONE off...Plus, they have great taste.
An entire album? Sweet!
Portishead make live return? More please!
Here's a list of songs sampled by Daft Punk. [thx Kottke]
Chalk one up for David Geffen. He’s back.
Ever been to an SNL taping? Me either, but Popcandy and the world famous Nummer went recently and wrote up their experiences. Sounds fab.
This is great if only because I just found out what "Animal Style" was during my trip to NYC.
Yuck.
Posted by Kyle at 1:14 PM | Comments (3)
February 25, 2007
Random Thought
Watching the Oscars while editing some photos from the weekend and I had this thought:
It makes me very happy to hear M. Ward's music used in a commercial.
It makes me incredibly sad to hear The The's music used in a commercial. Again. The Dockers one was bad enough.
Posted by Kyle at 9:40 PM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2007
You Know What's Funny?
When a website that's supposed to fight for the little guy basically admits they steal photos, many of them copyright protected, from Flickr for their for-profit website. And when people call them on it, they say tough shit.
I wonder if they'll do a post on themselves?
**UPDATE** It looks like they've taken the post down! Who do they think they are, the GOGblog? Click here for a scan of the original post. Sadly I don't have any of the comments.
**UPDATE #2** Consumerist has apologized and has created a Flickr group from which they will use from now on. Nice one.
Posted by Kyle at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2007
Good Time To Get Away
D.C., like much of the rest of the East Coast, is effing freezing today. Luckily I'm headed to Orlando tomorrow for a business trip. Let's take a gander at the weather down there:
Mmmmmmmm...toasty. What about the weather here in town?
Enough said.
So...the Super Bowl. I thought the Bears were supposed to have a good defense. Yet, they had all sorts of problems tackling anyone last night. I guess it's easy to be that overrated when you play in the NFC North. It's the NFL's version of the NBA's Atlantic Division.
Related: Everyone is going bananas over Prince's halftime show. I thought it was ok, but I spent most of it wondering why he decided to cover "Proud Mary" and the Foo Fighters. That was just weird. He has enough killer material in his own catalog, why resort to playing other people's stuff?
Lefsetz speaks glowingly of the performance and hammers his point home with this:
It hasn’t been done right in a long time.
Oh, and I still hate Greg Paulus. A typical Wojo-like performance. Has a decent game and then folds in the clutch. When does he graduate again?
I also caught Kobe v. Agent Zero over the weekend. I begrudgingly have to admit Kobe played an amazing game and the Lakers got the W. Also, Andrew Bynum: surprisingly good. Chuck Klosterman was there covering the game for the NYT. I kept trying to think of a reason to go over and introduce myself to him, but I ultimately drew a blank.
Sadly, the Arctic Monkeys won't be naming their sophomore album Lesbian Wednesdays. That would have been sweet.
Also, Chris Martin on Extras? Totally hilarious.
Posted by Kyle at 12:41 PM | Comments (1)
February 1, 2007
Leftovers
Pitchfork has a Dean & Britta MP3 if you want to check it out.
Bradley's Almanac has the recent Sloan show from Boston up for your downloading pleasure. He's also got a live recording of "Ill Placed Trust" from 15 (!!) years ago. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.
LA Weekly interviews Morrissey, mostly about cats and graves:
Was your cat maimed?
No, but he was very, very old, and he was arthritic, and he couldn’t go to the toilet properly and I would have to take him to the toilet, I’d have to do everything, but he was very, very happy, and as long as he was with me, he was thrilled to death. So, I held him at the last moment when they inserted the needle and, uh . . . I cried for hours and hours and hours. This sound came out of me, this sound of despair when he went, and I’d never heard it before.
Wow!
Because I thought I’d be — I thought I could completely handle his death and I’d be fine. I’d look after him, I’d make sure everything was okay, and I’d make sure that his transition was as easy and comfortable as possible. And I howled.
I mean, I still have moments where I grieve again, out of the blue — does that happen to you?
Of course! Of course! You miss your pets. You miss Sir Doo-Dah or whatever his name is . . . You miss them and you feel for them, and my cat was an incredible character. He wasn’t merely a cat, he was beyond human. He had the most incredible personality, an enormous personality, and as tough as, as they say, old boots, and I still miss him, I really still miss him. Sorry, I’m boring you stiff...
Yep, sounds about right. I still think about Jarvis from time to time. Well, I guess i should tell Ms. Smith right now that cat #4 will be named Sir Doo-Dah. That's teh awesome. Cat #3's name, in case you're wondering, is going to be Mylo. But don't worry, I'm very happy with cat #2, he's not going anywhere and I expect he'll be around for a long time. And yes, I'm a big dork. Moving on...
On a slightly related note, here's an MP3 of the new Stooges track:
[mp3] The Stooges | Idea of Fun
The Sports Guy loves him some Sports Bloggers, but only certain ones. Nice one Jamie.
UVA basketball, trying so hard to be relevant. And failing miserably.
David Aldridge is back at the Philly Inquirer! Yay!
Bloggers made Agent Zero an All-Star?
Posted by Kyle at 2:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
Every Mathematical Inequality Officially Ends With "< Jack Bauer"
If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.
If everyone on "24" followed Jack Bauer's instructions, it would be called "12".
Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.
Jack Bauer sleeps with a pillow under his gun.
Jack Bauers calender goes from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Jack Bauer.
When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists. Jack Bauer f*cking hates lemonade.
1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.
A day without torture is like a day without sunshine to Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer has a great tan.
Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.
Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.
Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.
All men are created equal. They are all vastly inferior to Jack Bauer.
Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.
Jack Bauer doesn't speak any foreign languages, but he can make any foreigner speak English in a matter of minutes.
Osama bin Laden's recent proposal for truce is a direct result of him finding out that Jack Bauer is, in fact, still alive.
Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.
It's no use crying over spilt milk... Unless that was Jack Bauer's milk. Oh you are so screwed.
Tony was once shot in the neck, rushed to the hospital, underwent emergency surgery and was back on the job in just a few hours. Jack Bauer still can't believe that p*ssy went to the hospital first.
Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.
Jack Bauer teaches a course at Harvard entitled: "Time Management: Making the Most Out Of Each Day."
Every mathematical inequality officially ends with "< Jack Bauer".
When Google can't find something, it asks Jack Bauer for help.
Jack Bauer's house has an alarm system -- not to warn Jack of intruders, but to warn the intruders of Jack.
If Jack Bauer misspells a word, your dictionary is wrong.
Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.
Simon Says should be renamed to Jack Bauer Says because if Jack Bauer says something then you better f*cking do it.
Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.
When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.
In high school Jack Bauer was voted "Most Likely to Kill the Foreign Kid"... and "Best Eyes."
If Jack Bauer shot you while quail hunting, it wouldn't be an accident.
When President Palmer quit to start doing Allstate commercials, it took him 43 takes before he could stop saying, "You're in good hands with Jack Bauer".
In 96 hours, Jack Bauer has killed 93 people and saved the world 4 times. What the f*ck have you done with your life?
There have been no terrorist attacks in United States since Jack Bauer has appeared on television.
Jesus died and rose from the dead in 3 days. It took Jack Bauer less than an hour. And he's done it twice.
There is the right way, the wrong way, and the Jack Bauer way. It's basically the right way but faster and more deaths.
There are three leading causes of death among terrorists. They are all Jack Bauer.
Nobody says 'hit me' when Jack Bauer deals Blackjack.
When the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.
The only difference between Jack Bauer and the electric chair is that Jack Bauer makes you talk first.
Sun Tzu once wrote, "If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you're f*cking dead."
Jack Bauer removed the "Escape" button from his keyboard. Jack Bauer never needs to escape.
On a high school math test, Jack Bauer put down "Violence" as every one of the answers. He got an A+ on the test because Jack Bauer solves all his problems with Violence.
Jack Bauer can get McDonald's breakfast after 10:30.
There are no such thing as lesbians, just women who never met Jack Bauer.
You can lead a horse to water. Jack Bauer can make him drink.
Jack Bauer doesn't play the game SORRY. Jack Bauer apologizes to no one.
Guns dont kill people, Jack Bauer kills people.
The Black Eyed Peas were just The Peas until Jack Bauer heard their music.
If Jack Bauer saw a terrorist reaching for a bomb to blow himself up, Jack would shoot the bomb first. Nobody steals a kill from Jack Bauer.
What color is Jack Bauer's blood? Trick question. Jack Bauer does not bleed.
People with amnesia still remember Jack Bauer.
When Jack Bauer goes to the airport and the metal detector doesn't go off, security gives him a gun.
If Jack Bauer was gay, his name would be Chuck Norris.
Jack has broken Tony's leg, knocked Curtis out, and shot George Mason with a tranquilizer dart. Temporary incapacitation is Jack Bauer's way of saying, "let's be friends."
In the 18 months where Jack Bauer was presumed dead, Tony Almeida was put in a coma, Michelle and David Palmer were killed, a major hurricane raveged the Gulf Coast, and Rob Schneider made another movie. See what happens when Bauer isn't around?
When Batman is in trouble, he turns on the Jack Bauer signal.
Jack Bauer makes onions cry.
G.I. Joe has Jack Bauer action figures.
If Jack and MacGyver were locked in a room together, Jack would make a bomb out of MacGyver and get out.
During the commercials, Jack Bauer calls the CSI detectives and solves their crimes.
Jack Bauer named his cat 'Chuck Norris.' Why? Because He's a p*ssy.
Jack Bauer's vanity plate reads: IKIL4CTU.
Jack Bauer has been to Mars. Thats why theres no life on Mars.
Jack Bauer may have 9 lives but he is no p*ssy.
It would only take 1 bullet for Jack Bauer to kill 50 Cent.
Metallica lets Jack Bauer download all their songs off the internet for free.
Jack Bauer won the Tour de France on a unicycle to prove to Lance Armstrong it wasn't a big deal. He thinks yellow wristbands are gay.
Jack Bauer arm once wrestled Superman. The stipulations were the loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants.
Jack Bauer once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.
Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.
The bumper sticker on Jesus's car reads, "WWJBD?"
Jack Bauer once killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most Wanted fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie Dodgeball.
Posted by Kyle at 10:32 AM | Comments (1)
January 19, 2007
Time To Get Away
Got a full weekend ahead of me. Tonight is a toss up between Asobi Seksu at Rock and Roll Hotel or staying home and watching Veronica Mars on DVD. I think we know which one will win.
Tomorrow, however, is chock full of excitement. Celtics at Wizards early, and Catherine's birthday party late. Killer squirrels need not apply. w00t!
That's some serious traffic.
Let's compare: Bad...Good. Pay attention Pitchfork.
Sorry we lost your cat in the cargo hold for 3 weeks.
Posted by Kyle at 1:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2007
Re: 24
Things I hate about 24:
1) The seemingly endless Sprint tie-ins.
2) The seemingly endless Fox News promos trying to relate to the show.
Things I love about 24:
1) Everything else! Jack is back! And now he's a vampire.
Posted by Kyle at 9:56 PM | Comments (4)
January 10, 2007
To The Summit...And Beyond!
I joined some other local bloggers last night in attending El Wapo's "Blogger Summit" at WaPo HQ on 15th street. Basically it was a get together between the top brass of the newspaper and online divisions and the local blog community. The word "blogosphere" was uttered continuously (I was all like "Say blogoshpere again!") and Celeste recalled an instance of one of the Post higher-ups saying the phrase "shout-out," thus ruining it for the rest of us forever.
I have to say, I thought it incredibly cool for a giant media entity like The Post to do something like this. The night was divided into three parts, a Q&A session between the some of the editorial staff and the bloggers, a presentation from a high powered libel lawyer (for our benefit) and a first look at the Post's forthcoming blog aggregator tool.
However, with the way things went, I wonder if The Post will do something like this again. All the ego maniacs in the room ruined the Q&A part of the night by mainly asking questions about how they can get their stories into The Post and things of that nature. One guy not-so-subtly accused The Post of repeatedly stealing stories from bloggers and when asked for an example, couldn't produce a single one. Ouch. The Beta unveiling was more of the same. All the tech geeks in the room started tearing The Post's new feature apart (even though it's still in development and not online yet!) because it didn't have things like geocoding.
Side note: Does anyone give a shit about geocoding? I certainly don't. Do I need to know what blogs about U Street are actually written in apartments on U Street? Seems like a tool for stalkers more than anything else.
Anyways, the night digressed into a big "I'm a big tech geek and your new service will suck because it can't do blah, blah, blah" even though this new service is obviously for people that don't read blogs regularly and is the Post's way of trying to give the locals some love. Which, ya know, they don't have to do. Jeezy Creezy. In the end, Catherine and I concluded that blogging was fun to do but not so fun to talk about. That said, Catherine and Tom wrote up their thoughts.
I missed my train by two minutes on the way home, so I tried my first attempt at some long exposure shots (featured above)while I was waiting for the next one. Some turned out better than others. Obvs. More stuff over on Flickr.
Tonight: Bulls v. Wiz and (hopefully) after the game, Leaf v. Agent Zero.
Posted by Kyle at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 8, 2007
Can You Rock It Like This?
I was entertaining the 'rents all weekend so I missed out on Gilbert's birthday party. But from what I heard, it was quite the event. The Bog has a nice rundown and the Fanhouse has more, including pics and video. And you should obviously check out the Wizznutzz recap. Apparently Gil encouraged the crowd to "get drunk and make bad decisions." Sweet. I am already working on some great questions for Agent Hibachi for Wednesday's post game locker room session. I'm talking an exclusive here. Stay tuned.
I was unable to attend today's D.C. United press conference announcing the new ownership group, but luckily the Bog was there. Are they going to rename the team "The Agent Zeros?" "D.C. Hibachi?" Developing....
I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure this is the first time it's ever been referred to as the LeBron/Josh Howard draft. Mr. Cuban, I dig what you usually write, but if you have to use someone's last name as an identifier, then that person probably shouldn't be mentioned in that capacity.
Completely unrelated...Target price drop hack. Sweet.
Pencil me in as cautiously optimistic. But it's not like they'll come to the US.
If you ever had doubts that Brandon Flowers and Co. weren't complete idiots, well let me show you the light.
Posted by Kyle at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 2, 2007
Bring It On, Bring It On, Yeah
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm still recovering from my wild and crazy New years celebrations, which mainly consisted of a home cooked steak dinner, a bottle of wine, a few glasses of champagne and discs one and two of the first season of Veronica Mars. You're jealous, I know. And get this, I DVR'ed the Celtics / Sonics game (which was still going on as we ushered in the new year here on the East Coast - worst) and saved it for Monday. Two words: party animal. At least I stayed up past midnight this year.
As for VM:Season One, it's totally best. Even Ms. Smith, who was skeptical to begin with, is totally hooked now. We're divvying up custody of said DVD's so we can both stay current with each other as we slowly get back into the groove of our usual weekly schedules. And we have Season Two waiting in the wings. Getting DVD box sets for Xmas is fucking best, especially TV shows.
Last week I forgot to mention that I got to see a show while I was in Orange County last week. Ms. Smith and I ventured out to the Orange County Museum of Art to see The Little Ones. Seeing a gig in the great room of an art museum was pretty wild and alot of fun. I was unfamiliar with the band going in but they put on an energetic show full of la-la-la filled power pop. Good stuff. And I got to take my 30d for a test run.
Also, last Friday's Bluestate was pretty great. I think it's safe to say we went out on a high note. We'll have set lists up soon. I broke out some old school stuff like Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me" and Everything But The Girl's "Missing [Todd Terry Remix]" that went over like gangbusters, so that made me happy. I think I'm done with DJing for the time being. I might pick it up again later this year but in the meantime I'll be focusing my energy through the camera lens.
Happy New Year everyone!
Posted by Kyle at 4:05 PM | Comments (2)
December 1, 2006
Street Cred. Genius.
Let me just go on record saying that if you're not watching 30 Rock, you're missing the best new show on TV. It is everything Studio 60 is not. Sharp, witty and LOL funny. Alec Baldwin, who has really taken his career to a new level now that he is focusing on smaller, and generally more comedic, roles, is awesome. Tracy Morgan, quite possibly the most unfunny (least funny?) SNL cast member ever, really shines. Not sure what the ratings are like, but the new slot on Thursday can't be hurting them.
I am finally ready to talk about the Celtics crushing loss to the Nets on Wednesday. I was so disgusted when the final buzzer sounded, I deleted it immediately from my DVR and tried to act like it didn't happen. Nothing like being up 15 due to some great bench play and then watching your two best players totally blow it in the end. Oy. Should we fire Doc Rivers? Here's the long and the short of it. I prefer the short version.
Say it with me now...Dirt Dog!
Speaking of Oasis, I caught Lord Don't Slow Me Down last night and it was pretty good even though watching it in a bar with half of the patrons talking over the whole thing wasn't exactly the ideal viewing environment. Unfortunately Noel has said there will be no commercial release for the new track featured in the film. As I said to Redboy a week or so ago, I think "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" (which is, quite frankly, one of the best songs Noel has written in years) will be their "Follow Me Around." And I really don't care if they release it commercially, because I have it on MP3!
iPod chargers outselling Zune on Amazon. I played around with a Zune in Circuit City earlier this week. Great display, but other than that, it's a typical Windoze product. It takes three clicks to start playing a song once you've selected it.
"I'm not sure if Hallmark makes a card for this situation....but they should."
I'm DJing at Cue Bar tonight if anyone wants to stop by.
Posted by Kyle at 1:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 29, 2006
Surely You Jest
Is this serious?
It can't be, right?
Is it April Fools in November?
They should rename that column "Misshapes 4eva!"
God, I don't miss New York. Good luck with that Grambo.
Anytime Ultrawrrrst opens her mouth, I am of the opinion she and Jen were seriously miscast back in January of 2005.
[via Natalya]
Posted by Kyle at 4:11 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
November 17, 2006
Weekend Plans
I'll be DJing with Bluestate at Saint Ex tonight. Come on down and say hi.
Saturday it's Michigan v. Ohio State, which should be off the charts since Bo Schembechler just died.
Later that night I'll be at the MCI Center taking in the Cavs and the Wiz.
And on Sunday? I'm resting.
PS - DCeiver just said Ghostface was on 30 Rock last night. So hott. I missed it but maybe I can catch it on Bravo.
Posted by Kyle at 1:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 10, 2006
Announcement Time
Probably more exciting for me than you, but I don't care.
First of all, beginning on Sunday, yours truly will be following the Washington Wizards as an officially credentialed member of the media. Yep, I'll get to cover the team from press row like a real reporter, with access to the team before and after games. I think the over/under for me being able to work up the nerve to ask one of the players a question is roughly two weeks. Unfortunately I was unable to get a photo pass from the team, but far be it from me to complain about any of this. Hopefully that will come down the road.
Now I know what your saying to yourself(*cough*hack!*cough*), "Why aren't you covering the Wiz v. Bucks game on Friday? Why wait 'til the Nets game on Sunday? Mike Redd, dude!" Well, I can't cover the game tonight. I'll be making my return to Cue Bar to DJ! This will probably turn into a weekly thing once the new year rolls around, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. So if you're out and about this evening, come on over and say "hi."
Completely unrelated, here's the surprisingly awesome Spiderman 3 trailer.
And don't forget to vote for Mr. Pink!
Posted by Kyle at 11:52 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 7, 2006
Slightly Less Crazy
Firecodes will move the Cameron Crazies a few feet farther back from the court in Durham. Boo.
Some great video footage from the Raptors "war room" during this past summer's NBA Draft. Newly hired GM Brian Colangelo calls around and tries to find out what's going on with free-fallin' Marcus Williams. The best part? Before calling Danny Ainge, he says, "Get Danny up in Boston on the phone.He’ll tell me." Yeah right. Danny was busy trading for Rajon Rondo, chump.
Is David Beckham done? Maybe he'll be playing for MLS sooner than we thought.
Q & A with Noel Gallagher. [via Chromewaves]
Some Shins MP3's for your downloading pleasure.
I'll let you decide. You can get with this or you can get with that.
Posted by Kyle at 2:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Changes
Internet Explorer users should finally be viewing this site as it was always intended, with three columns. For some reason the site has always loaded in two columns in IE, but it appears we finally have that fixed. Yesterday there were some problems with the "Comments" and "Permalink" links, but those all seem to be fixed as well. Also, the individual entry view has been updated to include the two sidebars. If anyone out there notices anything on the site acting funky, leave me a note here and we'll look into it. And by "we," I mean Tom from Manifest Density who was nice enough to help me out with all of this.
Posted by Kyle at 9:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 6, 2006
Oh My
Scarlett sex tape? And by tape, I mean audio. [via Goldenfiddle]
Posted by Kyle at 1:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 2, 2006
Some Days Are Better Than Others
Woke up 20 minutes late yesterday and barely made my flight at Dulles. That was stressful enough. But I made it and once we were airborne I strapped on my headphones and settled in for the long flight. Some guy in the row behind me was snoring loudly after about five minutes, but I just tried to ignore it.
About two hours later, right as Lady In The Water (truly the worst. movie. ever.) was reaching it's "climax" the snoring guy sitting behind me starts shaking violently in his seat. His eyes roll back in his head and blood starts spurting out from his mouth. He's obviously having a seizure, or worse a heart attack or stroke. At 25,000 feet. Everyone around him starts freaking out and calling for the stewardesses. They're useless and ask for any trained medical professionals on the plane to help out. Two people step forward, one of them repeating "This is not good," over and over. Snoring guy is still shaking and making choking sounds. At this point I truly believe he is going to die.
Luckily that was not the case. Long story short, it was only a seizure. They gave him some oxygen and eventually he regains consciousness but he has no recognition of what happened. He keeps asking "what's all over my shirt?" It was his blood. He was soaked in it. We had to make an emergency landing in Kansas City to get him medical help. The whole ordeal was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
Eventually, we made it to Vegas where I promptly lost money betting on the Celtics and the Knicks. That's what I get for betting on Isiah. I also developed a splitting headache and went to bed at 7:30 p.m. local time. Am I party animal or what? Now it's just after 5 in the a.m. and I've been up for about an hour. Hello jetlag! Also, the guy in the suite next to me is blasting Nine Inch Nails. Lovely.
More from Vegas later.
Posted by Kyle at 7:51 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 26, 2006
Sleep Is Overrated
Here is my schedule for the next week or so:
Thursday, Oct. 26th: The National w/ Nethers @ Black Cat, then The Rapture @ 9:30 (late show)
Friday, Oct. 27th: Hopewell and Longwave @ RnR Hotel, then Spank Rock @ the Black Cat
Saturday, Oct. 28th: Lady Sov @ 9:30 (early show) then De Novo Dahl, Bound Stems, Bishop Allen, Forget Cassettes, Pela @ DC9, then Girl Talk @ Black Cat
Sunday, Oct. 29th: D.C. United v. NY Red Bulls @ RFK
Monday, Oct. 30th: Decemberists @ 9:30 (tentative)
Tuesday Oct. 31st: Rest. And packing.
Wednesday, Nov. 1st: Fly to Las Vegas for work
Thursday, Nov. 2nd: Vegas baby, Vegas!
Friday, Nov. 3rd: Vegas baby, Vegas!
Saturday, Nov. 4th: Fly backfrom Vegas. Also Celtics @ Wizards @ MCI Center
Sunday, Nov. 5th: D.C. United playoff game?
Monday, Nov. 6th: Rest?
Tuesday, Nov. 7th: Margot & the Nuclear So & So's @ Black Cat
and so on and so on. So expect lots of photos over the next two weeks.
Also, I'm totally not a fan, but the new Shins record is pretty damn incredible.
Posted by Kyle at 10:42 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 24, 2006
Ex Imac To The Next
As soon as I decide to give up hope for Core2Duo laptop and give in an buy a 20-inch iMac (I figure it will make photo editing MUCH easier), Apple goes and announces new MacBook Pros. Oh well, those were out of my price range anyways. The last time I spent over $1600 on an iMac was back in 1999 or 2000, when I got one of these. Now compare those specs to my new machine. Wow. Anyways, my new iMac should be here by the end of next week! Also, my current machine, an eMac, will be for sale shortly at a very good price. It did a great job in between my iMac purchases. If you want to give it a new home, let me know.
All that and you forget to mention that he's a good bartender to boot? For shame.
The Twilight Singers cover Massive Attack.
So Graham Coxon, when can we expect the Blur reunion? Graham: "I'm better than Blur." Ok then, no time soon.
Wrong. The correct answer is "Black Star." Thanks for playing!
Wait, D.C. is in the greater Baltimore area? I thought it was the other way around?
You Ain't No Picasso give locals Middle Distance Runner some well deserved love.
Moz in Chi-town in November? And this is the only US date? Argh. Nice try Moz, but I'm much to smart to make that kind of road trip to see you play. You'll invariably cancel two days before the gig.
Stink Palm-gate, Day Two. What were we talking about again...
Am I the only one that really enjoys The Sports Gal's weekly sidebars on The Sports Guy's site? I thought so. Moving on...
WOXY just cued up Travis' "All I Wanna Do Is Rock." Nice choice.
Posted by Kyle at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 17, 2006
Make Some Sense
I'm assuming everyone's seen it by now, but above is the new Oasis video for "The Masterplan." Not my favorite Oasis video, but animated Liam is pretty cool. Plus, it's better than the ridiculous "All Around The World" video. I would have paid money to be there when Dayton & Farris tried to explain the whole "green screen" thing to Liam. Priceless.
Leafblower faves Goldie Lookin' Chain to spread peace, goodwill and leisurewear on their next UK tour.
*sigh*
Anyone else jumped ship from Bloglines to Google Reader?
Here are my photos from Sunday's D.C. United game.
Duke's Greg Paulus broke his foot and will be out for a while. I'm really looking forward to this year's Duke team. Coach K tends to do his best work when everyone thinks he'll have a down year. I'm also glad to not have to deal with J.J. Redick backlash all year long.
In case you forgot, Steve Smith runs things.
Some people play fantasy sports. I like to play Fantasy Business.
Posted by Kyle at 12:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 12, 2006
Red iPod Nano Released Tomorrow?
Posted by Kyle at 3:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Good TV / Bad TV
I was really disgusted and disappointed by the news coverage of the whole Cory Lidle plane crash yesterday. It seems like every news outlet kept endlessly comparing it to 9/11, when to me it seemed a little more JFK, Jr. I guess I didn't learn much from 9/11 because when I heard what happened, my first thought was "Wow, some inexperienced pilot must have crashed his small plane into a building," which was, you know, exactly what happened. ESPN News was still running this as "breaking news" as late as 10 p.m. last night, at least four hours after the fires were extinguished. That's completely ridiculous. Seth Mnookin caught some choice words from CNN during this whole thing.
That was the bad TV roundup from last night. Except for the seemingly endless stream of commercials, Lost was a little better(the whole "Red Sox win the World Series" thing was HI-LAR-IOUS) and 30 Rock was pretty damn funny. I think it's a testament to the SNL writers that Tracy Morgan was never as funny on that show as he was last night. Not even close. And I'm a sucker for Alec Baldwin when he does the whole straight-laced comedian thing.
Ack! Grambo's pulling a Sports Guy! It's the end of an era in D'town. BTW, Go Tiggers.
WOXY is playing The Hold Steady's "Party Pit" pretty regularly and I'm really digging it.
This may not appeal to anyone outside the Metro D.C. area, but the semi-new D.C. Sports Bog is easily the best blog I've read by an honest to goodness reporter. Mr. Steinberg totally gets it. His whole Arenas series from training camp was hilarious and he also gives D.C. United some love as well. Also, he has a category for Beer and Cheese. Good stuff.
All together now...Ra-jon Ron-do clapclap clapclapclap! I am absolutely dying to watch some Celtics preseason action. Went to Summer's on Tuesday but the game was blacked out. Stupid, useless TV rules.
Dime Mag let some bloggers do their NBA season preview. Pretty hott. I'll have my thoughts onthe Wizards up on DCist sometime soon.
Justin Timberlake MP3s! OMG! My Old Kentucky Blog has MP3's of Justin live from Maida Vale.
Hey, look. The same photo four fucking times. Good thing they decided to show us all of those. That post was definitely enhanced by that.
Posted by Kyle at 1:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 10, 2006
Been Here For Years
WOXY is now back on the air. But it appears my favorite DJ is no longer on the staff list. Quoth Moz: "Nothing's changed / I still love you, oh, I still love you / Only slightly, only slightly less than I used to."
Hey Noel...No shit!
I'm Aaron Sorkin and you're not. Last night's Studio 60 was fun TV but I still feel it's missing that spark. At this point it feels like Sorkin is just rehashing old Sports Night scripts. Hopefully that will change in the future.
Does HBO influence the networks, or do the networks influence HBO? Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body ? I dunno...
Romo!
Slightly better. Only slightly. OK, I'll stop.
Kim Jong-il Says the Darnedest Things.
Mark Cuban still thinks Google is crazy for buying YouTube.
Posted by Kyle at 1:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 2, 2006
Monday Shorts
Can I get a show of hands of people that fell off the couch laughing at that truly horrible performance by The Killers on SNL? They are one of the most over-rated bands on the planet. Just horrible.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I give you Britt Daniel on the AOL Interface.
The Futureheads have cancelled their U.S. tour, but the Cold War Kids will be soldiering on without them.
AOL has some good albums available for streaming this week. Cold War Kids, Beck and a few others.
Quoth Mac Bunnymen: "We'll go in the middle of the arena so everyone can see the back of your head. We're going to do that with an orchestra and play 'Ocean Rain' (1984 album) from start to finish, plus other songs, but that will be the kind of centrepiece of the gig."
The world's worst mp3 blog would look like this.
The Secret Lives of Baseball Card Writers.
Count me among the masses that don't get this whole Apple wants to own the term "podcast" legal thing. PS - they won't win.
Lastly, big ups to Jess Blueprint/Gawker! Congrats.
Posted by Kyle at 1:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 28, 2006
How Indie Are You?
Take this online quiz, brought to you by the good folks at CNN.com (yes, that CNN) to find out.
Catherine, did you put this together?
Posted by Kyle at 12:39 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 26, 2006
Sure, I'll Be That Guy
As pointed out to me last night by a friend, has anyone taken a look at Idolator's visitor stats lately?
I'll be the first to point out that this is a relatively small sample size, but does anyone notice any trends?
Tomorrow marks their end of their second full week online.
Posted by Kyle at 2:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 22, 2006
Saviours Of Jazz Ballet
I saw Citizen Cope last night. My review is over on Dcist.
Ex-RIAA agency "can't find" artists it owes money to, like Public Enemy. Remember this whenever the RIAA and their ilk play the "we're doing it for the artists" card. Wankers.
New Trail of Dead. Let's hope it's better than the last one.
Brett Ratner...still a giant douche.
In other news, I sincerely hope comment and trackback spammers burn for eternity in hell.
Tonight: A special appaearance and performance by Mew at the XM Studios here in D.C. Hott.
Tomorrow: V Fest (minus DJ Tiesto, who cancelled, which is OK because I'll be seeing my first ever Flaming Lips performance anyways and they were scheduled to play at the same time. Maybe I'll try and be part of the stage show, but probably not because there's no way it will top the time I got to dress up as a Green Gorilla and go onstage with the Super Furry Animals at the Leeds Festival.)
Posted by Kyle at 1:34 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 21, 2006
Maybe Your Gonna Be The One
The Wonderwall covers project. I still say Ryan Adams owns this song.
Woxy (RIP) hearts Oasis.
Housemartins BBC sessions are on the way.
Go download The Wedding Present's cover of "Our Lips Are Sealed." It's good, but I'd be more impressed if they did "Lust To Love."
Watch the video for Jarvis Cocker's brilliant tune (Cunts Are Still) Running The World."
Chris Parnell wuz robbed. He's got more rap skillz than anyone in the Black Eyed Peas.
As if Kazahkstan wasn't already pissed. Now Borat's going to be on the cover of Vanity Fair!
Materazzi has the last laugh. I think calling it a laugh might be overstating things. More like "Materazzi gets lame commercial."
Ever wonder what NBA players do with their free time and excess coinage? Well if you're Zach Randolph, you get two girls to perform simulated sex with each other, feed them lots of tequila and then have sex with them.
Posted by Kyle at 1:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 14, 2006
Unbuckled Tonight
Doors at 9. Be there. I'm very excited to see both these bands and not just because of all the hard work I put into booking this thing or because USA Today thinks Middle Distance Runner is the next big thing. I'm excited because it's going to be an awesome show. So come on out and support the cause! I'll be DJing early.
The Wire has been picked up for season numero cinco! For the record, I give up, it is the best show on TV. Anytime I'd rather sit at home and On Demand three or four episodes a night instead of going out, it qualifies for the shortlist. I watched Season Three in like four days. It's like teh pandemic. Even the Sports Guy is on board.
Gawker media launched their music blog skewering Idolator today. They think "in the last year, the music-blog netherworld has become as homogenized and indistinguishable as the record labels themselves," which, as one of the only blogs not on the Tapes n Tapes / Sufjan Stevens / Wilco etc. train (just check my visitor stats, ha!) I have to say I agree with. Now pardon me while I go listen to some Art Brut and write something about Pavement.
Ahem...You can fuck right off if you don't think Wowee Zowee is the best Pavement record. OK, that may be a little harsh, but it's def. my fave. Here's the drool enducing double disc issue reissue tracklisting.
Reunited and it feels so...much better than it currently is. *sigh*
These guys get closer to this with every damn picture. Sad really. But inevitable.
I stumbled into tickets for last nights Zero 7 show at the 930 Club, so I went not knowing what to expect. I semi-liked their first record (way overhyped, but decent enough) but haven't really paid attention to their last few albums. I was hoping for some sultry and seductive, slow grooving trip hop but got eight white guys and Sia onstage playing homogonized R&B to a crowd of people at one of the three concerts they will attend this year when they're not at dinner parties listening to Santana's "Supernatural" album and/or expounding on the latest Jack Johnson record. Which is to say most of the people in attendance weren't your average concert goer (indeed, the women were MUCH hotter than usual) and would go gaga at any little thing the band did onstage. "A Kazoo! How clever! Oh my!" I was bored out of my mind and left after the first few songs. The band are competent musicians, but like Dceiver said as I discussed the show with him, they play "retail background music." Indeed.
Jose Gonzalez, on the other hand, was incredible. He had more stage presence than the whole of Zero 7 did, mostly because for him, it was about the music. He just sat on a stool with an acoustic guitar and played his songs. And they were amazing. He ended his set with two covers, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and a jaw dropping version of Massive Attack's "Teardrop," which was brilliant. I usually don't go for the singer/songwriter acts, but I walked out of the venue a new fan. Unfortunately, I got to the venue too late to take pics of him. My new 85mm lens, by the way, is totally on point.
Posted by Kyle at 1:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 11, 2006
Time Stops
I imagine most everybody came around these parts today for another MP3 or something music related. I would also venture to guess the last thing you want to do is ready yet another piece on 9/11, but longtime readers will know this is a subject near and dear to my heart. And honestly, this isn't so much for you as it is for me.
I remember 9/11 pretty clearly. Parts of the day are still crystal clear to me. At the time I lived on Gold Street, just a few block away from the World Trade Center complex. I got up the same time I always did, jumped in the shower and started my daily routine. After I got dressed I turned on the TV and tuned into New York 1 so I could get the score of the Giants v. Broncos game even though I don't have any rooting interest for either of those teams. When the TV powered on, NY1 was showing an aerial shot of the World Trade Center on fire with a caption running along the bottom of the screen that said something like "Plane flies into the World Trade Center." My immediate thought is some stupid, rookie pilot crashed his Cessna into the building. I sat down to watch the TV and after a minute or two, there was an huge explosion in the second tower and I felt my apartment building shake and heard glass break. The first thought I had when I saw that was, "Holy shit, this is history." And even though I didn't even have a blog back then, I did what any good blogger would do. I grabbed my digital camera and went outside.
I made my way up Fulton Street and tried to take in the scene. There were people everywhere and they were all reacting to what was happening in a different way. Some people were hysterical, some were solemn, but most everybody had their eyes on the two towers. By the time I got up to Broadway I started hearing people talk about the Pentagon getting hit as well. I walked up the Church Street, which was about as close as they would let anyone that wasn't a first responder. I took a few photos of the Trade Centers as well as all the broken glass that was everywhere. After that I swung up to Ann Street and planted myself with the intention to stand there was long as I could and watch what would happen.
That didn't last long however. A cop came around the corner and started screaming to everyone that there was a bomb threat in the area and everyone should make their way uptown as soon as possible. For some reason this seemed improbable to me (although I can't say why), so I stayed but after another minute or two he came back and I heard an urgency in his voice, so at that point I decided not to push my luck and to head back to my apartment and call my parents to let them know that I was OK.
I got back to my place and turned on the TV. I eventually settled on watching ESPN because they had the National ABC feed and if the world was going to end I wanted Peter Jennings to tell me, not the local news anchors. Around that time my phone, a land line, started ringing off the hook. The first call I got was from an old college buddy, Darren Sams. Darren and I went way back but had lost touch since I moved to NYC years earlier. I didn't even know he had my number. But he was the type of guy that would do something like disappear for a long time and then pop up again when you need him the most. We talked for just a minute or two but I immediately felt better after we spoke. Partly because it was nice to know that someone was thinking of me and partly because it was nice to hear a familiar voice. After I hung up with Darren my Aunt JoEllen called and I asked her to call around and let everyone know I was OK. After that, I finally got a chance to call my Dad and talk to him. He kept telling me to leave but I wasn't sure what to do.
It was around this time that the first tower fell. When it did, the sky got very, very dark. It looked like night instead of early morning. I had been pretty calm until then, but at that point I started freaking out. I went downstairs to the building lobby to check out the scene there and it was full of people covered in white soot. Most everyone was crying. I brought a pitcher of water and some towels downstairs and went back up to my apartment. The phone kept ringing off the hook and at this point, the details get hazy. I do remember being on the phone with someone when the second tower fell and I didn't even know it happened. Tony Kulzer, a friend and co-worker that was in Brooklyn watching everything from his rooftop called to tell me. That was one of the weird things about 9/11 that sticks out for me. Even though the towers fell and I was just a few blocks away, I had electricity, phone and internet (dial-up no less) the whole time up until 7 World Trade Center (a separate building) fell later in the afternoon.
At some point after the second tower fell, I got fed up with discussing my evacuation plan with my then girlfriend (luckily, she was safely up on East 81st Street, about as far away as you could be from Lower Manhattan) and I found a bandana, tied it over my mouth and went outside to get a look at the destruction. More than one person told me not to go, but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't be that close and not see what happened.
I was stunned at how quiet it was. There was no sound anywhere. The phrase "deathly quiet" took on new meaning to me. An occasional ambulance or fire truck would drive by but other than that, nothing. The dust and soot were omnipresent, in the air, on the ground, just covering everything. It was at least a foot or so deep in some places. But the most surprising thing was the paper. There were tons and tons of random sheets of paper blowing around in the wind or covering the ground. All the paper from the World Trade Center towers was now covering the streets in the surrounding neighborhood. Now, when I look back on that now, I wonder why I didn't take some of it as a keepsake but at the time, that was the furthest thing from my mind.
I made my way up to Church Street surveying the debris I could see the Police and Fire Department setting up their perimeters. I tried to stay out of sight somewhat so they wouldn't make me go uptown without letting me go back to my apartment first. I walked down to the hospital down the block with the intention of volunteering in some capacity, but as everyone knows now, there weren't really an survivors, so after a while it just became the hospital staff and a bunch of us standing around waiting for something to happen. They finally told all of the non-employees to go home. So I did. I went back to my apartment yet again, called a few more people and tried to take in what had happened. It was pretty surreal. When you step out of the shower in the morning, you never think you're going to be on the front line of history.
At some point that afternoon, 7 WTC fell and the power finally went out. If memory serves, that was around 3:30 or 4 that afternoon. I realized sometime around two o'clock that I hadn't eaten anything at all that day. All of a sudden I was starving. I went out again looking for some food. Understandably, most everything was closed. Luckily, the diner across the street was open. It was literally the only open business in that area. There were 10 or 15 people there trying to get some food. They were taking it as quick as the cook's could dish it up. I got a burger and fries and overpaid by a few dollars and told them to keep the change.
All day I had been debating on whether to leave or to stay put. If I left, my only real option would have been to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn but I was worried that the bridges would be the next target, so I stayed put. After the power went out that afternoon, I decided I had to make my way uptown. My (then) girlfriend was at her cousin's place on 34th street and I told her I would meet her up there. The subways were running above Christopher Street so I packed up a bag for me and one for her and I started walking uptown. Because I was carrying so much stuff, I had to leave our kitty behind at the apartment, something that I regret doing to this day (even though Kitty was fine and we went back and got her the next day. Still, you never leave a man behind). It took a few hours to get uptown but I was very relieved when I finally was able to sit down and not worry about very tall buildings falling on top of me. Later that night there was a bomb scare at the Empire State Building, just a few blocks from where we were staying. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it did little to calm our nerves.
We got a little sleep that night and got up first thing the next day to go back to our place and grab Kitty and some extra clothes. I actually went to work the next day because my boss was being a complete asshole about me coming to the office (our office phones didn't even have long distance capability at that point) but I only lasted a few hours. I rented a car online and headed up to my Massachussettes for the next few days.
It's hard to believe all of this happened five years ago. Alot has happened since then. I was eventually laid off from work, moved to Brooklyn, got another job, lost it, tore my ACL playing soccer, broke up with my girlfriend, and eventually landed here in D.C. Before I make this too much of a sob story, I think all of this has worked out for the best for me. I can honestly say I am happier now than I have been at any point post-9/11. I guess that's a result of getting on with my life, getting a steady job (outside the music industry) and also getting out of New York. I enjoy going back to visit, but I'm much happier with my life here in D.C. I realize I am lucky to still be here today. I think about the towers falling alot. Mostly marvelling at the fact that they fell straight down. Imagine if they toppled over to one side. 9/11 was a horrible tragedy, but I try and look at it in more positive terms, like how many people were saved and how much worse it could have been. But I still catch myself looking up at planes when they are flying low overhead and I get a slight shudder everytime I see a plane come in for a landing at National airport here in D.C. It's right off of the major interstate into downtown D.C. and it's something I'm not sure I'll ever be entirely comfortable seeing.
All of my photos from 9/11 are over at Flickr.
Posted by Kyle at 11:24 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
September 7, 2006
Yay! Best! w00t!
Minnesota Public Radio's The Current Names WOXY.com's Barb Abney as On-Air Host
Minnesota Public Radio's The Current announced today that Barb Abney will join the station as a weekday on-air host, 9 a.m.-noon, beginning Oct. 3.
Abney comes to The Current from Cincinnati's WOXY.com, one of the premiere alternative stations in the country. During the past 12 years, Abney has served as a daily on-air host, where she picked all her own music and interviewed countless bands, including We Are Scientists, Radio 4 and Concrete Blonde. WOXY.com announced last week that it will cease operations on Sept. 15. For more information, go to www.woxy.com.
"I've been following the progress of The Current since its inception," said Abney. "I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to join the station and grow along with them."
Abney's first shift will start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, on The Current, KCMP 89.3 FM in the Twin Cities, KMSE 88.7 FM in Rochester, and online at www.mpr.org/thecurrent.
----------------------
Couldn't have happened to a nicer person or a better DJ. Hopefully she will continue to plug one of the best one of the most above-average sites on the interweb at her new gig as well. Everyone here at infomation leafblower dot com (that'd be me and the chief) wishes her the best.
Posted by Kyle at 2:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 5, 2006
California (All The Way)
*sigh* Back at work after my all the short time in Southern California. I wrote a big wrap up post about the trip during my flight back yesterday but I forgot to load it into MT last night. D'oh. So you'll have to make do with a short recap.
While I'm not sure I would want to live there, Southern Cali is a great place to visit. I couldn't believe how bright it was when we touched down. The weather, by the beach anyway, was really incredible, even to someone like me that doesn't really enjoy the sun that much.
I got to do all the touristy stuff I wanted to do. I saw Bukowski's grave, took in a Dodgers game, had an In-n-Out burger and saw the Capitol Records building.
Buk's grave was thankfully pretty easy to find. He is on a hill, situated kind of by himself, with a tree nearby and a nice view. Visiting cemeteries isn't something I do regularly, but I always told myself I would do this if I had the chance and I'm glad I did. I didn't do anything like bring Hank a beer or prepare some big speech or anything, just took a few photos, soaked in the scene and left.
The Dodger game was really cool even though stupid Grady Little sat both Nomar and Jeff Kent. They lost big, but I had a few Dodger Dogs, a relative bargain at $4.50, and even more $8 Budweiser's. The stadium itself was a treat. It has this 1960's drive-in burger joint vibe, they play Jane's Addiction whenever a runner has "Been Caught Stealing," and pipe in the Vin Scully feed over loud speakers in the stands. Best!
Other than that we spent the weekend tooling around Newport Harbor, checking out Laguna and Huntington Beaches, eating alot and drinking even more. I can't wait to go back. California, where the weather is always bright and sunny, people park expensive cars right on the street, the cars have unironic personalized plates, the girls are all blonde and (totally, extremely) hott and all your yardwork is done by cheap immigrant labor.
Posted by Kyle at 11:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 31, 2006
Holiday. Celibrate. Celebrate.
And I'm off. I'll leave you with my official song of the summer (even though it was released in 2004).
[MP3} Teddybears | Yours To Keep
PS - This really sucks. Boo.
Posted by Kyle at 6:19 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 30, 2006
Going Back To Cali
Today's songs:
[MP3] LL Cool J | Going Back To Cali
Obvs.
[MP3] Buffalo Tom | Summer (Acoustic)
Still waiting for that Buffalo Tom show in D.C. C'mon guys, make it happen!
[MP3] The Sundays | Summetime
My love for The Sundays, probably one of my (and John Peel's) favorite bands ever - yet I hardly ever mention them on this site, and lead singer Harriett Wheeler (hubba hubba) knows no bounds and probably deserves a post of it's own. One day... I only got to see them live once, on the Static and Silence tour at the Supper Club in New York. It's a shame they were big before the internet came into it's own. There isn't much info about them online.
[MP3] Superdrag | I'm Expanding My Mind
I always pictured this song, from Superdrag's criminally underrated sophomore album, playing over the closing credits of my as-of-yet unwritten movie about a group of friends going on a road trip out West. That last sentence is about as far as I've gotten on that screenplay, but hey, it's a start. That would be a good post, "Soundtrack to the movie/screenplay I haven't written yet." I'm coming for you Zach Braff. You and Jump Little Children can eff off.
I did a little dance earlier today when I found out the opening band for The National's October show at the Black Cat. As Damore would say...MMMMmmmmmmmmmbest!
Whew, I don't have to see Idlewild now. Not that I was going to.
Posted by Kyle at 1:31 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 29, 2006
What's Up California?
Labor Day is approaching fast and with it, your friendly neighborhood infoleafguy will be heading out to the West Coast for the first time in many moons. I think the last time I was in Cali was back in college when Adam Swientek and I ventured out to San Fran for the first ever Tibetan Freedom Concert. Too bad there was no blogging back in the halcyon days of 1996, because we had a great time out there. If I remember correctly, the best sets were by John Lee Hooker (he was A-MAY-ZING), Pavement, The Beasties (Ad Rock wore a Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf jersey, don't ask me why I remember that) and Bjork. The worst set? The Smashing Pumpkins, obvs. They played like 45 minutes of feedback. Losers. But I digress...
So come Thursday morning, I will accompany Ms. Smith out to the O.C., not far from Laguna Beach, which would be even more exciting if I had ever watched either of those shows more than once.
Last night I started putting together a big, California-influenced playlist to listen to while we drive around (top down, natch) everywhere. And of course I have a few selections to share:
[MP3]Car Stereo (Wars) | What's Up California?
(go to GVB to download)
Not the instant classic that Ghostface Observatory was, but it saves me from listening to Rooney, which is always a plus in my book.
[MP3]Lady Sovereign | Random (Live on AOL's The Interface)
(go to Culture Bully to download)
Holy shit, this track is straight fire!
[MP3] James Brown | Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved
It's the summer, go listen to some James Brown!
[MP3] Public Enemy | Brothers Gonna Work It Out
It made me sad today when I read the following on Pitchfork:
As Public Enemy's influence lessens by the minute (did anyone pay attention to this-year's Rebirth of a Nation, their co-op project with Paris?), the outpouring of mediocre projects is doing nothing to reestablish any sort of reign.
That may be so, but I still enjoy the old stuff. This track goes well with the James Brown track above since they basically appropriated JB's call and response verse into their own. Best.
More tracks tomorrow and Thursday.
Posted by Kyle at 2:36 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 25, 2006
Fine Then
Boo! Mew and Kasabian skipping DC on their upcoming tour.
So are Kings of Leon, but we get the Stills. Somehow that's not adding up as fair as far as I'm concerned. C'mon KOL! You're doing Philly the night before. What's one more gig? It's on the way home!
Christopher Porter on Nouvelle Vague.
Eric Bachmann is slowly turning into that Chris Farley SNL character of the guy that lives in a van down by the river. WTF? AT least he's playing DC on his next tour. [via Chromewaves]
For the last time, I did not lose my virginity to Evan Dando.
Vice Records has their MP3 blog back up and running.
The C's are hitting the gym this summer.
Apple pays Creative $100 Million.
Posted by Kyle at 11:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 18, 2006
Leaf Strikes Again!
The National on their upcoming DC show:
"We are [also] playing Washington D.C. again since we only played there once during 'Alligator' touring and that wasn't really fair, considering we hit most other places twice or even three times," [Bryce] Dessner says.
Boo-ya-kasha! I love the interweb. Can we all agree to some sort of blogger pact that if you interview The National you'll promise to ask them about this? And yes, I sent in my own interview request. [link via Chromewaves]
Looks like I'll finally get to see Broken Social Scene.
Related: I got my Massive Attack at the 9:30 Club tickets yesterday! I'm going on Thursday.
A good Factotum review! (Thx Ms. Smith) Peep the trailer.
Hubba hubba [via Goldensizzle]
Hilarious! Interesting. Go Sox!
Snakes on A Plane in Gallery Place tonight. Who's in?
Posted by Kyle at 10:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 16, 2006
Wednesday Linkage
That's right, next Thursday at Saint-Ex. Be there.
This makes way too much sense for it to ever happen.
I'l assume that, just like everyone else on the planet, you loved The Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy." If so, go get five other Spinto tracks.
I'll also assume that, just like everyone else, Bloc Party really clicked for you when you heard the Phones Disco Edit of "Helicopter." Well, Phones (aka producer Paul Epworth) fancies himself as a recording artists now. He's named himself Epic Man and has released his first track, "More Is Enough." Shockingly, it's pretty ace. Head over to Good Weather For Airstrikes to grab it.
Initial CMJ performers announced.
Stream the new Ghostface track, "Man Up," from the Saints Row soundtrack:
Windoze Media
Stream the new Black Keys track, "Your Touch":
Windoze Media
Stream the new TV On The Radio track, "Wolf Like Me":
Windoze Media
Soulwax (aka Too Many DJ's + friends) has a new track called "Miserable Girl." Download it.
The Zutons are back! Check out their media player. I slept on them last time, but that won't happen this time around, if only for their insanely hot horn player. Yes I have a slight crush on her.
Posted by Kyle at 2:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 15, 2006
A Quick One While I'm Away
Sorry for the brevity today. My blogging/lunch time was taken up with my Silversun Pickups interview. I should have that sometime later in the week.
Global warming leads to more summer festivals.
Lollapalooza drew in over 166,000 people this year.
The Red Sox won't make it to the postseason.
The case for Wily Mo. Tough call. I'm a Trot guy, he's repping the North Cackalack! When I was in high school, my town's Legion baseball team was pretty good (I didn't play but many of my friends did) but Trot's Wilmington team would always beat us. They weren't the better team, but they had Trot and he was the best player on the field. He was crazy good back then.
Posted by Kyle at 3:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 14, 2006
Yours To Keep
The whole time this "Rock Star: Supernova" show has been on TV, I kept thinking there was already a band with that name. Turns out there was. And they are suing CBS.
Making money off of Mel. An interesting look into how much those photos of Mel Gibson drinking at the bar before his arrest are worth.
Speaking of photos, Poor Boy George.
How Comcast is picking your pockets. On Saturday, el WaPo reported that Comcast is raising rates $2 per customer in the DC area due to the new, Nationals carrying MASN network. But the rate hike goes into effect with three weeks left in the season. So we have to pay for the Nats all summer when their season is over. Totally fair. Oh, BTW, none of the other four area cable providers raised their rates when they picked up MASN.
Sweet! Peel sessions CD's from Pulp and Gene due soon.
Nice.
Silversun Pickups on WOXY. I'm doing a phone interview with them tomorrow. If you think of any good questions, leave a comment or drop me an email.
On Saturday, a bunch of us in the (past and present) DCist crew got together to see off Ryan before his big move to London. Ryan was a big part of DCist's recent growth and he's a damn good writer. The site is definitely worse off without him, but we'll manage. I wish him all the best across the pond.
Posted by Kyle at 1:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 3, 2006
Here it Goes. Again.
Above is the new OK GO video for "Here It Goes Again." Much like their last video, it's pretty cool and features the band and their crazycool dance moves. It's a great example that you don't need a six figure budget to make a eye-catching video (something I had a long conversation about last week, more on that later). But, I wonder how long it will be before "OK GO, the band" starts being known as "OK GO, the band that dances around in all their videos" and they get recognized for (and only for) their video kitsch factor. It's a slippery slope. Do it once and you're brilliant. Do It twice and your milking it. Three times and you obviously don't think you have anything else going for you. [via Rock Insider]
Who's Clutch? Basketball Jesus or Big Papi? I imagine you can guess which side of the fence I'm on here.
Looking at the NBA television schedule. The C's are on national TV just once (plus one ESPN game and seven on NBA TV)! Bah.
Posted by Kyle at 3:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 1, 2006
Wednesday Linkage
Stream the new Idlewild OutKast track "Idlewild Blues." (Windoze Media)
Stream the new Black Keys track "Your Touch." (Windoze Media)
Download the new Rapture track "Get Myself Into It."
Watch the video for the Steve Lillywhite-ified version of Aberdeen City's "God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me."
Sleater-Kinney's show at the 9:30 last night had to be rescheduled for Thursday after Fire Marshall Bill shut the show down due to a possible transformer fire or some shit like that. Georgie James says hi.
Holy Shit! This Ghostface v. Ghostland Observatory mashup is the. best. thing. ever. Wow. I've listened to this like 12 times already today.
Anyone else less than enthused about the new Kasabian single?
Great moments from the now defunct Top of the Pops.
When I talked about the songs that should be on the upcoming Oasis collection but won't be, I never thought to include "Live Forever." Tracklisting here.
PS - It's "Fookin'"
USA Today took in Editors performance at the 930 Club last week. And they used a stock photo. If they needed great photos from that gig, all they had to do was holler at me. In all fairness, they had a pretty great shot from the gig that ran in the print version that was not included online. Still, Leafblower Photos are much cheaper than Getty Images.
Posted by Kyle at 10:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 27, 2006
Let's Get Out of This Country City
Guess who is playing Chicago tomorrow night? Camera Obscura!
And D.C.'s own Georgie James is opening.
How excited am I?
If Pete Townsend is so fucking tech savvy, then why did he set up a hotmail account?
Some great photos of Mos Def and The Zutons in action.
Assimilate, bitches!
A few people (Yo Grizz!) have emailed me about the upcoming, two disc Greatest Hits collection from Oasis that will feature 18 songs picked by the band. And by the band, I assume they mean Liam and Noel because they are the only two that have stuck it out this long (leaving in the middle of the tour excepted). I was going to post my guess as to what the tracklisting will be, but instead I present you with four tracks that most likely won't be included but should:
Oasis | Fade Away (live) (MP3)
This is a live version of a b-side from the Cigarettes & Alcohol single. It comes from the Black on White bootleg, a CD that forever cemented my Oasis fandom. I loved this song when I heard the recorded version, but hearing it live gave it new meaning. "While we're living / the dreams we have as children / fade away." A lost classic that never got the chance it deserved. That this song sounds so good live with Tony effing McCarroll on drums speaks volumes. Even he couldn't fuck it up. "Now my life has turned another corner / I think it's only fair that I should warn you / Dream it while you can / Maybe someday I'll make you understand." When I was 21, this song seemed like the most profound thing ever.
(It's Good) To Be Free (Live) (MP3)
Another live track from the Black on White bootleg that just annihilates the recorded version originally featured on the Whatever single. "What would say if I said to you / It's not in what you say /It's in what you do."
Oasis | Rockin' Chair (MP3)
You can just imagine Noel sitting around writing this before the band really took off. "I'm older than I wish to be / This town holds no more for me." The "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" fade in at the start of the song gets me everytime, as does the acoustic solo about half way through. This track was originally on the Roll With It single, which I listened to hundreds if not thousands of times in college.
Oasis | It's Better People (MP3)
This song was also on that single and it's a bit of a rarity in that it's an acoustic song sung by Noel that's not a ballad. Strangely enough, I can't see Liam doing this song. He'd overpower it. Not the greatest song in the Oasis catalog by any means, but this is the type of song that would be a single now, whereas The Chief used to toss them off with ease back in the early to mid 90's and stick them on the b-sides of their singles. Ah Noel, you were so best before you started writing all your songs about your ex-wife and how she was taking all of your money. But I digress...
Editors / Cedars tonight!
Posted by Kyle at 12:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 26, 2006
Wednesday Linkage
Stream The Kooks track "Eddie's Gun" in Windoze Media.
New DJ Shadow material:
"Enuff" stream it in Windoze Media
"You Made It" stream it in Windoze Media
The Bronx are streaming their new record over at MySpace. It's shouty and fun.
Speaking of shouty and fun, I got a copy of the Be Your Own Pet album late last week ansd spent some time with it over the weekend. It's much like their live show, it runs together in most places and is very loud and in your face, but at least with the CD I can pick out the riffs and lyrics. It's not something I'd sit around and listen to, but it's fun for long drives. If you're into thrashy punk, you could do alot worse.
32 shows in 30 days. By a 65 year old. Because he's doesn't get most of today's guitar bands. So he went to check them out. Respect.
The Smiths, on first listen. Sounds like she was predisposed to hating them.
Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger (touring soon!) and John Roderick from The Long Winters interview each other. Great stuff, if only because Sean and John were each in each others bands. [via LHB]
The Chicagoist Guide to the Pitchfork Music Festival: Part One
Not even close. Bruce Bowen (6.5 ppg for his career, never averaging double digits once!) is nowhere near the player future Hall of Famer Chris Mullin (18.2 ppg for his career, All NBA once, second team All NBA twice and four time All Star) was. Talk about insulting. Kids today...wow. And Amare has a game similar to Patrick Ewing? Maybe post-surgery he'll turn into a soft, whiney jump shooter with a knack for coming up short in the clutch, but right now, not so much. And don't even get me started on the 'Melo and Bird comparison. USA Today's attempt is a little better. I can live with the 'Melo and Mullin comparison and I'm (somehow) less offended by the Joe Johnson to Bird comparison. But only just.
Posted by Kyle at 1:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 24, 2006
Don't Ask Me Where It Comes From
Last week I finally got some new music, which means I have something to write about today.
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
Oh. My. God. Why didn't anyone tell me about this record back in May when it came out? It's incredible. Imagine Belle & Sebastian with a motown fetish. Twee Motown, people! I don't even like B&S (or twee for that matter) but this record is fucking best. I've been listening to it for like 5 straight days. This will easily be in my Top 10 at the end of the year. Go buy this record right fucking now. Unfortunately they just came throught own a week or so ago so I missed them on tour, but this KCRW session is just as good. They drop a little of Paul Simon's "Call Me Al" into "Let's Get Out of This Country" and yes, it is best. You can also stream some MP3's over at the Merge site.
PS - They have a blog.
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
More Motown influenced girly goodness, although this has some Go! Team splashes every so often. Some of this record is brilliant and some of it is kind of annoying. In general, I like the songs where they actually sing more than the ones where they chant and shout, but it's a bit different from most of the stuff dominating the bloggersphere, so it's worth a listen. I'd rate this a 7 out of 10. Go grab some MP3's here.
The Futureheads - News & Tributes
I'm torn about this record. The songwriting is better than their debut, the production is top notch and they're obviously a better band since we heard them last but I can't help but be letdown a bit by this record. The first album kicked my ass all over the place where this one is more varied with a broader scope. But it just hasn't clicked for me yet. But I fully intend to give it a few more spins in order to grab hold of me. Verdict TBA.
Sweet. Do I loose what's left of my cool points if I reiterate that Wowee Zowee is my favorite Pavement record?
U.S. radio hangs up on Madonna.
Catherine Wheel BBC session. [via Torr]
Unfortunately it's a Happy Days era show. Ferment would have to be on a list of my Top 10 all time favorite records and Chrome ranks right up there as well but I kinda lost interest until 1997's Adam & Eve (which I believe is out of print now).
The Mighty Mozzer pays tribute to Syd Barrett, writes missive for True To You dot net.
Grambo v. Kevin Smith. Nicely done, although I'm still on the fence about Clerks 2.
A memo from Steely Dan to Luke Wilson. [via goldenfiddle]
Next iPod to do eBooks?
Micro$oft's iPod killer is doomed.
Posted by Kyle at 12:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 20, 2006
The More You Know
Is there anything funnier than mainstream media writing about bloggers? I vote no. I give you, as evidence, Portrait of a Blogger: Under 30 and Sociable.
"Bloggers in general don't intend to have a lot of impact," said Amanda Lenhart, who directed the survey. "The motivation comes from within; it tends to be very personal. They're not out to change the world."
"Of all the bloggers out there, there are only about 10,000 that have an audience beyond their friends and families," said B.L. Ochman, a business blogger who tracks online trends."It astounds me that people are willing to do this stuff without getting paid," Ochman said. "I come from a generation that gets paid for our work."
"The average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat," said Alexander Halavais, an assistant professor of interactive communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
Yikes. I don't even know where to start with that(other than I'm over thirty and occasionally blog about my cat). But that was the funniest thing I've read in ages.
Save Our Sonics. I have only been to Seattle once, but I can't imagine it without the Sonics there. Worst. Although the Oklahoma City SuperHornets might not be a bad idea. True Hoop has all the details of the Sonics sale and possible move.
The Sports Guy chooses and EPL team to follow. This is a much better read than you'd think.
New Eric Bachmann (Archers of Best, Crooked Fingers) material over at LHB.
Color me interested.
Has anyone tried out Lightroom? Sounds cool. I'm looking for some software that is better than iPhoto but more photo oriented than Photoshop.
Posted by Kyle at 2:22 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 19, 2006
Wednesday Linkage
I need some new music, people. Any suggestions? I have an iTunes gift card burning a hole in my wallet money clip. What should I buy with it? I'm leaning towards the last Rogue Wave record, which was recommended to me many moons ago but I could never find in stores. Any other suggestions? Is the Mew record out yet?
I just browsed around eMusic for the first time in ages. They've added a ton of stuff lately, like the V2 catalog. I can't wait to download the last few Paul Weller records as well as all the elbow singles. Sweet. They also have the new Pipettes and Futureheads records, which is good because DCeiver been promising me a copy of News & Tributes for three weeks now.
What he said. Where have you gone Captain Rock? [via Chromewaves]
Mercury Music Prize nominations released. Artists up for the award include Thome Yorke, Arctic Monkeys and...Scritti Politti?
I just want to go on record telling everyone that this is the single worst song I have ever heard in my entire life and I can't wait for these guys to become these guys. Book it.
As if my ex-roommate didn't give me enough reasons to make fun of Pearl Jam.
News on the Funeral follow up. No pressure here. None at all.
Interesting. "We do know that it's a version of 'The Great Escape', it's something like nine minutes long and it will 'make us shit our pants.'"
"Shock" might be too strong a word.
A week late but still best.
The day the Boston Globe hoop coverage died.
Peter Gammons is out of the hospital.
Are Apple's customers rebelling?
Wired Mag buy Wired.com. Guess that explains the whole Tripod thing.
Confessions of a car salesman.
Posted by Kyle at 11:57 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
July 12, 2006
What A Waste
Oh hell yeah.
Kickoff is but three hours away and it just started raining. Bah!
Good news! From today's online chat with The Sports Guy:
David (New York): Have you heard anything recently about Peter Gammons condition?
Bill Simmons: Heard he's doing GREAT. Supposedly he was watching All-Star Weekend and itching to come back. Everyone expects a full recovery.
That is very good to hear.
"Ben Wallace. It's too bad. Like sand through the hour glass, So Best has turned to So Durst."
"Despite the little girls who play Major League Baseball and the raft of NFLers who play only on third down, American sports fans fancy themselves tough guys who cheer on tough guys. Flailing around as if shot by an elephant gun provides a convenient excuse for Joe Sixpack to write off soccer."
Notes on "Sweet Child O' Mine," as Delivered to Axl Rose by His Editor [via Goldenfiddle].
The Guardian on Nouvelle Vague.
Kate Moss stars in top-secret lingerie film.
A Case Against Sufjan Stevens. [via 5500]
About four years too late if you ask me.
Posted by Kyle at 4:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2006
Fitba!
I just got word the good people in DC United's front office have granted me a press pass for tomorrow's freindly versus Celtic at RFK. Sweet! I'm getting a photo pass and everything. V. excited. This will be the perfect way to get over my blues now that the World Cup is over.
Yesterday I forgot to mention that I also had 5th row(!!!!!) seats for last weekend's Belle & Sebastian / Broken Social Scene / Ted Leo show at Merriweather. It pained me to give those up since they were undoubtedly the best seats I'd had at a concert in 10 years. The Upstate Life was a bit underwhelmed at the show, so that makes me feel a bit better, although I have never seen B&S or BSS, so I probably would have dug it a little more. Luckily I can still get my Ted Leo fix in Chicago later this month.
New Live at KEXP disc. Nice tracklisting.
Related: I am almost ready to commit to buying a Macbook. Anyone want to talk me out of it? Also, I have a nice, used eMac for sale fairly cheap. It runs like a dream. Shoot me an email if you're interested.
Posted by Kyle at 12:59 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 10, 2006
Well Thought Out Twinkles
Apologies to anyone that came to Bluestate on Saturday expecting to hear the musical stylings of DJ Leafblower. Since we called in the big gun for the weekend, I decided to head back to the North Cackalack to see the 'rents and finish stocking up my new apartment. I hadn't seen my parents in a while and I needed to get out of the city and relax, so this seemed like the right time since the rest of my July is pretty much spoken for. We rented a boat on Saturday and tooled around Lake Hickory all day. It was fab. I need to make friends with someone that has a boat and a place on the water. Consider that officially on the "to do" list. I also caught Pirates of the Carribean. It was good, but could have been much better. They could have shaved half an hour out of that movie no problem. Also, the film has less Johnny Depp in it than you would think. The first 1/3 of the movie is comic gold, but then it turns into an action flick with a bunch of special effects and way too much plot happening. Still worth seeing though.
Watched the World Cup final last night (which I DVR'ed thanks to my now functioning cable services). I didn't record OT and the shoot out so I missed Zidane going cuckoobananas, but Italy seemed like the better team yesterday, even though I was pulling for France. Oh well. I don't think the world was ready for Fabian Barthez, two time World Cup Champion. Also, I blame the World Cup for me slacking on my Wimbledon watching this year. I watched about as much as The Hoff did.
My other "announcement" is that effective today I am no longer the sports editor at DCist. I decided a few months ago to step down and focus on the upkeep of this site as well as doing more interview/feature pieces for DCist and involving myself less in the day to day operations of that site. I just didn't have the enthusiasm (or time) for the sports stuff that I once did. The very capable Matt Bourque will be taking over for me going forward. I'm sure he'll do fine. Also, congrats are due to Sommer as she is taking over for the departing Ryan Avent and becoming DCist's new EIC. I couldn't think of anyone else that deserves the position more. I have full confidence that Sommer will continue the stellar work that Ryan (and Martin) started. All that remians to be seen is if she ever comes up with all these milkshakes she keeps promising everyone.
Tomorrow I might actually have my Futureheads pics from two weeks ago, but no promises.
Posted by Kyle at 11:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 5, 2006
It's A Grind Grind
Did everyone have a good 4th of July? I watched fireworks from the Key Bridge last night. It was pretty cool.
Being back at work after a 6 day weekend = no buzz, but at least I have interweb here. Hell is losing your TV and interweb connection when the NBA free agent period starts. I missed so much over the last few days. Big Ben to Chicago (be careful what you wish for), Nazr Muhammed to Dtown (like that's going to help), Peja to NOOCH, Speedy Claxton to Atlanta, Derek Fisher to Utah. Oh, and Tyson Chandler to NOOCH for PJ Brown and J.R. Smith?
Let me go on record about Big Ben to Chicago by saying "meh." He leaves a veteran team that has trouble scoring for a young team that has trouble scoring. Whatever. Chicago overpaid for him, which is what you have to do if you want to sign a free agent.
I still want to go in depth about the C's draft but not sure I'll have time in the near future. I liked what Danny did (big surprise, I know). But we upgraded our bench tremendously. Back up PG was a big problem for us last year and now we have much more talent there. And hopefully Leon Powe will be as good as advertised and he will take Scalabrine's minutes.
Brad hearts Buffalo Tom. So do I. Before my Oasis and Super Furry Animals obsessions, Buffalo Tom was the band I saw the most in concert. Like eight or nine times. Click through to Brad's blog for a live set from Beantown.
New Jarvis Cocker stuff! Go here to download it.
Someone's been hanging out with Noel too much.
Posted by Kyle at 2:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 3, 2006
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
I am back from the brink. No, not relocating, although that was stressful enough. I'm talking about 96 long hours without TV or *gasp* the interweb. Comcast was supposed to show up Friday morning to hook my shit up, but *shocker* they flaked. So now I have to wait until this Friday to get connected. TV I can do without, I still have my DVD player (I watched parts of this last night), but not having interweb access is brutal. Especially over a very long holiday weekend (I actually have today off but came into work anyways). *sigh*
So that's the bad news. The good news is my new place is awesome. Why I waited 32 years to get my own place is beyond me. Mr. Pink was a little freaked out by the whole moving process but he's doing better now. He was not happy when the movers came and did their thing. And to say he is not fond of car rides is an understatement. However, he has a nice view from the 11th floor of our new place and he's loving that. He sits in front of the window all day and looks at everyone down below. That is, when he's not napping.
I'm still unpacking boxes and will be all week, but my place is slowly coming together. I bought a new coffee table and cover for my couch, so it's like I have brand new furniture. I'm also shamed to admit I bought matching bath mats and hand towels. God I'm old.
Updates will be sporadic this week until I finally get settled and gain internet access. I have Futureheads pics from last week as well as thoughts on the NBA draft still to come.
PS - Go Portugal!
Posted by Kyle at 2:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 27, 2006
Worst.
Oh no. Peter Gammons is currently undergoing surgery after having an aneurysm earlier today.
Posted by Kyle at 6:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2006
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Bruce Arena out...Jurgen Klinsmann in? Funny, I was just talking to DCeiver about this very thing! I'm all for it, he's against it. Can we get rid of DeMarcus Beasley too?
Related: Buh-bye.
Also related: Babes of the World Cup.
Not related: FreeDarko drops the NBA science over at McSweeney's.
Go download some great B-sides by The Smiths, Pulp and others.
Posted by Kyle at 1:46 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 19, 2006
Long Slow Goodbye
How about that USA v. Italy match? It's like DCeiver said, "Italy ain't been hungry since Supreme Clientele." Inserting Clint Dempsey into the starting line up really paid dividends, in my mind. He and Bobby Convey are the only players on our team that can take the ball and get around somebody. Both of them also stay wide and open up the middle for Reyna, McBride and little Landon. Nice to see Kasey Keller finally show up as well. If we win and advance, I say bring on Brazil. They haven't impressed me at all.
Related: Fonts on football jerseys.
As for the NBA finals, fist I present you with this statistic.
Dwyane Wade last night: 25 free throw attempts
The Dallas Mavericks last night: 25 free throw attempts
Now allow me to point out this passage from The Sports Guy on June 8th:
And that's the thing that bothers me about this series: No team depends on the refs quite like the Heat. When the refs are calling all the bumps on Shaq and protecting Wade on every drive, they're unstoppable. When they're calling everything fairly, they're eminently beatable. If they're not getting any calls, they're just about hopeless. I could see the refs swinging two games in Miami's favor during this series, possibly three. In fact, I'm already depressed about it and the series hasn't even started yet.
I would comment more on last night's game, but I went to bed shortly after midnight, right before OT started. Yes I am an old fogey (more on that tomorrow) but I can't see a single reason for a Sunday night NBA Playoff game to last until the wee hours of Monday morning.
I went to see the Nats take on the Evil Empire last Friday. Here are some pictures.
Free up space on your Mac with Disk Inventory X.
Create your own false identity.
Douglas Coupland Explains JPod Title.
Love this Spank Rock photo. Beautiful.
Oh, before I forget, Pitchfork is now a photo blog. And a crappy one at that.
Posted by Kyle at 1:03 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 14, 2006
Daybreak Hallelujah!
A detailed guide to backing up a Mac.
Microsoft finds 60% infection rate in PCs. So buy a Mac, just not the new Macbook.
Sports Big Papi Illustrated. Best.
Did the Blazers John Patterson slander Al Jefferson? Very interesting stuff. At least to me. I heart Big Al.
Tryouts for the Celtics Dance Team. Groan.
The best teams I saw in Week One of the World Cup:
1) Czech Republic
2) Sweden
3) Croatia
It's worth noting that I only watched about 40% of the matches and that the three teams above won, drew and lost.
Nethers tonight at the Black Cat! Best. More photos of Nikki with hair in her face! So much awesome.
Posted by Kyle at 12:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 12, 2006
I'm Afraid of Americans
I doubt the US could have played any worse yesterday. It was genuinely the worst case scenario, especially with Italy's 2-0 win over Ghana. Now we're five goals down on differential. We showed flashes at time but couldn't put anything together against a clearly superior Czech team. I only saw the games from Saturday over the weekend, but they were the best team I've seen play so far. That Rosicky guy is insane (and aptly named). Apparently Arsenal just signed him. The two goals he scored against the US were amazing. They were the type of goals that Casey Keller generally stops.
If I'm Bruce Arena I make the following changes for Saturday(discussed at length with DCeiver on the post-game walk back from the bar):
1) Bench DeMarcus Beasely and sub out Brian McBride at halftime. Beasley is on the field because of his speed but was routinely beaten by the much bigger and more physical Czech players yesterday. He was basically useless and putting him on the left hurts the play of Bobby Convey, easily the USA's best player yesterday (which I called on the walk over to the bar BTW). McBride is ineffective if he does't get the ball served to him, which never happened yesterday. He doesn't come back for the ball much and isn't effective out of the opposing team's box.
2) Move Landon Donavan back to the midfield so he can get the ball more.
3) Move Bobby Convey back to the left. Convey was the bright spot yesterday. He can get by anyone and serves the ball well from the wing. He's a tiny dude but not intimidated by anyone.
4) More PT for Eddie Johnson please. He is just as one dimensional as McBride, but at least the defense has to account for him when the ball is at his foot. He came close to scoring twice in limited time yesterday.
5) Get John O'Brien on the field. He's one of the few US players that can get the ball and keep it.
6) I also want to go on the record saying I hate Eddie Lewis playing defense.
7) Is it too late to start reminiscing about Brad Freidel?
8) Lastly, let me state my surprise that the World Cup was the lead story on ESPN.com after Ben Brothelsburger pulled a Jay Williams.
We have to beat Italy to have any hope of advancing. Saturday should be interesting. My feelings are that going into match play, Keller would give up no more than four or maybe five goals in match play. I still believe that to be true. But it would definitely help if the defense, you know, stepped to the ball when the opposition has it.
Where is everyone watching the Italy match on Saturday?
Michael Davies is writing a World Cup blog for ESPN.com that is very entertaining. Be sure to check it out.
Grant Wahl on how effed we are (and this was written before the game yesterday).
DCeiver's two cents. Alexi Asshat indeed.
Also, if DCeiver and I ever start a band, it will be named "Clay Court Specialist."
Raconteurs + Gnarls Barkey + Horseracing? Maybe we're crazy. Probably.
Nethers tour diary! They play DC tomorrow. Yes, I am going to see them yet again. Expect more pictures.
Oh, I also found out that I'll be attending the early show on Thursday when Be Your Own Pet opens for the mighty Sonic Youth. Best!
Stream Primal Scream's "Country Girl" here (QT) and here (Windoze). I'm scared it's gonna suck. Someone tell me if they like it or not.
I've had a big album review post half written for about a month now, but one sampler I got that I liked alot was from Regina Spektor. Stream her track "Summer In The City" here (QT) and here (Windoze).
Posted by Kyle at 10:58 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 5, 2006
Insert Bad Weather Pun Here
We were so close! Driving up to NYC on Friday, we had clear, albeit mostly drab and grey, skies all the way until Newark, when the sky opened up. The weather alternated between drizzly and pouring for the rest of the night. There was a 10 minute break in the rain while Mike, L Boogie, Ms. Smith and I were across the street from the Seaport having a drink in the Heartland Brewery with Les, Super Furry Roadie Extraordinaire, and he lept up and dashed to the stage to get the band ready, but alas, they couldn't get everything set up before it started raining again.
The Furries ended up playing three songs before the torrential downpour did them in, which was unfortunate, becuase they gave it their all. But understandably, standing in large puddles with an electric guitar slung over your shoulder is not exactly the safest thing to do on a Friday night. So the gig was pulled after three songs, but Gruff, God bless him, grabbed his acoustic guitar and jumped down from the stage and performed four songs acoustically for the small crowd that remained. So some people went home happy.
That was the bad news. The good news was that the Furries didn't have to pull the show entirely, something they proudly noted they've never done in the band's entire career, and more importantly, we simply started the after-party earlier. So we eventually went around the corner to a local bar on Beakman Street and set up shop. We stayed there until the wee hours of the morning and I tired to drink my weight in Boddingtons. The result: Close but no cigar.
Despite the show being so short and abrupt, it was a really fun night. I got to see Chris Shaw and a few friends and former co-workers that I hadn't been in contact with since moving from NYC two years ago, had a heated debate with Guto over the best Wu-Tang solo record (he voted for Liquid Swords, I was repping the new Ghostface record) and heard Bunf profess his love for vodka gimlets numerous times over the course of the night. I also vaguely recall Coolfer turning up before the end of the night. Actually, Friday night was so fun that I spent most of Saturday in bed.
The rest of the weekend was spent tooling around Manhattan desperately trying to rid myself of my hangover, eating pizza (Two Boots and Grimaldi's) and attempting to stay dry. Paramount had most of the Wall Street area blocked off while they were shooting the new Spiderman movie and we also stumbled across a crew shooting a new VW ad, so I'll have those pics tomorrow.
To see all my pics from Friday night, head over to Flickr.
Posted by Kyle at 1:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 2, 2006
Rain 4 The Weekend
Bah. Looks like it's going to rain all weekend, so I'm not sure what will happen to the gig tonight. Oh well. If I get to hang with the guys, I'll be happy.
Some music for the weather:
R.E.M. | Have You Ever Seen The Rain (MP3)
Bette Seveert | Ray Ray Rain (MP3)
Guided By Voices | Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (MP3)
Posted by Kyle at 8:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 1, 2006
That Was Cool
Not sure if anyone heard it or not, but I just got an over the air shout-out from Barb at WOXY after she played "Golden Retriever." Hott. Excellent choice Barb! It's D.C. by the way, not NYC (although I will be in NYC over the weekend).
Thanks!
That's about all I got today, although I should go on record saying I called Heat in 6 yesterday. DCeiver can back me up on this.
Posted by Kyle at 1:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 31, 2006
Feelgood By Numbers
Swamped at work and feeling a bit under the weather as well, so today is going to be short.
Go read my interview with Aberdeen City over at DCist.
Hammerjacks, a music venue in Baltimore, is closing for good on Saturday. That makes me sad. I only went there once, but that was a pretty cool night. It was the night that this happened:
As if I needed an excuse to re-run that picture (that's me on the lower right, obvs.). Here's the story behind it if you're interested.
But enough about Oasis. I get to see what I believe is my 27th Super Furry Animals gig on Friday in NYC and I could not be more excited. Yes, I have serious problems.
To celebrate, here are two live MP3's for your downloading pleasure from the 1996 Hultsfred Fesitval:
Super Furry Animals | Frisbee (Live) (MP3) One of the first Super Furry songs I ever heard and one of my favorites to this day. I have literally begged the band for going on seven years to play itlive but still no joy.
Super Furry Animals | Organ Yn De Geg (Live) (MP3) - Another early fave that I have yet to hear the band play live.
Posted by Kyle at 1:11 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 30, 2006
Back Like That
Since I aim to spend the upcoming weekend drunk as a skunk with a bunch of Welshmen, I was deteremined to be as Amaerican as possible over my four day weekend.
Friday I went and saw a big summer blockbuster, and it was not as bad as many would have you believe. But you have to go on with low expectations (like I did) and be aware that it's a summer blockbuster, not X3:The Way A Comic Geek Would Have Written It. I did have problems with it, but they were mostly with the script, not Brett Ratner. I actually thought he did a pretty decent job.
Saturday Ms. Smith and I went to RFK to see the Nats take on Red Sox West. Derek Lowe was pitching, and although Bill Muellar is on the DL, I got scream "Nomaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" a bunch of times, so life was good. We took in V for Vendetta later that night at the Arlington Draft House. Verdict? Much the same as X3.
On Sunday we did a bit of shopping and then watched the US Mens National Soccer team take on Latvia. So of course I invited the only Latvian I know to come watch the game with us at the Cleveland Park Sports Bar. I am so ready for the World Cup! Especially since I got the OK to work from home some days. So best.
I was out of things to do by the time Memorial Day actually came around, so I cleaned the house a bit, did some work and spent some QT with Mr. Pink. Yay four day weekends!
Oh, last night I watched the Pistons implode on national TV. Good times.
Canon latest to pull out of film cameras.
Moz: I've always felt like an exile.
Posted by Kyle at 1:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 25, 2006
Hard To Explain
So how bananas was Lost last night? Like Woah. I had two problems with it though(**semi-spoilerific, but not really**)
1) Jin has become such a non-factor. All he does is shrug and give people the thumbs up. What a waste.
2) You mean to tell me that, when a sailboat appears that can carry a small crew wherever they want to go, not one person on that side of the island speaks up and says something like "Hey, fuck Walt. Lets use that boat to get the hell out of here." As if.
Two things I really liked about it: 
1) The explanantion of the plane crash.
2) More Desmond and best yet, Sonya Walger. I have a huuuuuuge crush on her. I even used to (semi) watch The Mind of the Married Man just to see her each week. Hubba hubba. Nice to see her getting a decent role after the disaster that was the US version of Coupling. Oh wait, IMDB says she's on CSI:NY alot. I wouldn't know, I refuse to watch any of those shows. But I digress...
Sonya Walger=best.
You wouldn't expect Consumerist to be at the forefront of the NSA wiretap story, but they are. Interesting stuff.
Ghostface! Catch the blast of a hype verse.
I also like this shot of the YYY's.
Chromewaves ponders Eric Bachmann.
Amazon is offering 30% off select box sets. Sadly, the one boxset I want isn't part of the deal. Related: Anyone know if this is any good?
How important are NBA workouts? Ask Orien Greene. [via Celticsblog]
Nice stuff from Boston Dirt Dogs. I am officially over Matt Clement.
Tonight I'm catching local faves Nethers opening for the Walkmen before heading over to DC9 to DJ at Unbuckled and catch Deleted Scenes and Georgie James. And no work tomorrow! Should be fun.
Posted by Kyle at 1:48 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 19, 2006
Delivering Maybes
Tonight is the Aberdeen City / Sound Team gig at the Black Cat. V. much looking forward to it. I'm scheduled to interview Aberdeen City for a DCist feature to run next week. Look for photos and such in over the weekend (hopefully). Oh, and I almost forgot, here is the link to my pictures from the National Zoo from a few weeks back. I like this one.
The Washington Times discovers MP3 blogs.
12 notable moments in Wu‑Tang history.
Silversun Pickups live on KEXP downloads. This band needs to come play DC, like yesterday.
Related: KEXP has a blog. Ms. Smith, you're supposed to tell me about stuff like this.
Download some Morrissey demos from Viva Hate. [via Torr]
Google improves their blog search function.
If "The Ten Commandments" was a wild teen comedy. Effing hilarious.
I almost pooped my pants when I saw this. Look how easy it is to upgrade your hard drive in the new MacBook.
Big ups to Ms. Smith who is getting her Graduate Degree from GW this weekend. W00t!
Posted by Kyle at 1:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 17, 2006
Blogging Machine
The new iBook MacBook has been released (first impressions here). And according to the email I got from Apple, it's a blogging powerhouse. Funny how blogability is a selling point now. Too bad my iBook's value just took a nosedive. Oh well, I still like it. You're with me, iBook!
Damn Phife / you got fat
Yeah I know it looks pathetic
Ali Shaheed Muhammad got me doing calesthenics
[via Goldenshizzle]
I'm jealous. Of you too. Oh well, I'll have to settle for seeing her on Letterman tonight.
I vote yes. But "best label in the world?" I think not.
DAMN YOU KISSY BEAR! YOU HAVE SCREWED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!
Posted by Kyle at 3:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 15, 2006
Waiting For Slow Songs
Busy week coming up:
Monday: Giant Drag @ Black Cat (Thanks for the reminder Natalya)
Wednesday: Charlatans @ 9:30
Friday: Aberdeen City / Sound Team / Elephant @ Black Cat
Saturday: Ms. Smith gets her grad degree from GW (yay!)
Of all these shows, I'm most excited about Friday's. Aberdeen City are a band you should keep your eye on. They get exponentially better each time I see them and Coolfer's been talking up the Sound Team record to me. Should be fun. I doubt I'll stick around very long for Elephant since I have boyfriend duties on Saturday. I'm also really excited about tonight's Giant Drag show. It's been a while since I've seen my indie rock girlfriend. Hopefully her subcutaneous emphysema has cleared up since last time they came through town.
Oh for fucks sake! I was really looking forward to that. Noel drives me crazy with this shit. "We decided the songs weren't good enough so we're gonna take two years off and spend our money instead." *shakes fist* I'm ready for Liam to pull a Thom Yorke.
Amazon has a sale on Criterion Collection DVD's. Sweet.
Pitchfork nail their Art Brut review. And yes, the "Enter Sandman / Formed A Band" intro was one of the funniest, if not the best, opening numbers to a show I've ever seen. I downloaded the bootleg they have available on eMusic and they do "Back In Black" instead, it's slightly less best. I'll post it later in the week if I remember.
One of my favorite photographers on Flickr is Baltimore's Jay Parkinson. He recently did an interview with nerve.com where he explains his methods. Good stuff. I found Jay's work through this picture. Big surprise, I know. It must have been taken right after I took this.
Related: June 2nd is just 18 days away! FREE SUPER FURRIES!
Oh, I almost forgot. I have a giveaway to announce! I have a pile of promo CD's filled with recent releases that I need to get rid of. I will send this pile to the person that can name the most events I attended from the pile of ticket stubs in the picture above. Hint: Not all of these stubs are for concerts and since I am a big dork, I saw some of these events more than once. To win, all you have to do is email me your answer here. I count 13 I can name from the photo. Good luck!
Posted by Kyle at 12:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2006
Cover Me
Not much going on around the internets today, which is a shame since I have some free time. Oh well. My pro Flickr account is back up and running, just in time for the Mogwai show tonight. This will be my first ever time seeing them, so I'm v. excited. I'm not that familiar with their work, but I have hear nothing but amazing things about their live show. So we'll see.
Go vote for the Photobloggies.
Meh.
Go download some tracks off of the new Charlatans album.
Metro Distortion has a ton of MP3's for your downloading pleasure, including We Are Scientists covering the Ronnettes, and Editors covering R.E.M.
And if it's R.E.M. cover songs you want, Mocking Music has you, um, covered.
Even more covers over at Pop Geek, including The Delays covering Aha and Franzia doing Gwen Stefani.
Ghostface for Intonation (surprised Pitchforkfest couldn't get him) and Kings of Leon are opening for Pearl Jam in Australia. Related: The new Ghostface album is incredible. Go to Best Buy ASAP and drop your $9.99 for this shit. Straight Fire.
Posted by Kyle at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cover Me
Not much going on around the internets today, which is a shame since I have some free time. Oh well. My pro Flickr account is back up and running, just in time for the Mogwai show tonight. This will be my first ever time seeing them, so I'm v. excited. I'm not that familiar with their work, but I have hear nothing but amazing things about their live show. So we'll see.
Go vote for the Photobloggies.
Meh.
Go download some tracks off of the new Charlatans album.
Metro Distortion has a ton of MP3's for your downloading pleasure, including We Are Scientists covering the Ronnettes, and Editors covering R.E.M.
And if it's R.E.M. cover songs you want, Mocking Music has you, um, covered.
Even more covers over at Pop Geek, including The Delays covering Aha and Franzia doing Gwen Stefani.
Ghostface for Intonation (surprised Pitchforkfest couldn't get him) and Kings of Leon are opening for Pearl Jam in Australia. Related: The new Ghostface album is incredible. Go to Best Buy ASAP and drop your $9.99 for this shit. Straight Fire.
Posted by Kyle at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 9, 2006
I'm Considering A Move To L.A.
No I'm not, but here is a live Art Brut track of the same name:
Art Brut | I'm Considering A Move To L.A. (MP3)
Their album Bang Bang Rock n' Roll is in stores today. You can order it from InSound here.
The RHCP are not happy with Apple right now.
Download Radiohead In Copenhagen 5/6/06. Look at that setlist! "Planet Telex," "Black Star" (easily the best Radiohead song there is), "Nude," etc. Wow. No "I Might Be Wrong" but they played it the next night. I tried in vain to get tickets to the Philly show on June 1st (one of my Ticketmaster passwords was "outlast"), so if anyone has a spare, get at me! I'm trying to pull off seeing two of my three favorite bands on consecutive nights in June. Radiohead on the 1st in Philly and SFA in NYC on the 2nd. Now if Oasis was playing Boston on the 3rd, I would be in heaven.
NBA and Apple agree to distribute playoff game video via iTunes. That would be hott if I had a video iPod and the Celtics were in the post season. It doesn't seem like April if the C's aren't playing the Pacers on NBAtv and I'm not talking shit to Bob Cook.
Re: The Wiz...TANTOU!!!! I can't believe Gilbert missed those free throws.
Related: Where would Gerald Green, Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins be drafted if they orginally went to college and declared for the draft this year?
Add variety to your photography.
Easy stencils from a color photo.
The new iBook MacBook is supposed the be released today. Is it black?
Apologies for the lack of updates the last few days. It's been a combination of busy work and DCist schedules. I took Friday off and Ms. Smith and I went to the National Zoo and various other places around town. It was nice to get out from behind the computer for a day. I took some great photos but my Flickr Pro account expired, so I have to wait a few days while my payment goes through before I can upload everything. Same for my photos from Phoenix on Saturday night. They were good, but not as good as last year. They had a new drummer that I liked less than their last one (the French version of ?uestlove) and they frontloaded the set with a bunch of new stuff. Still, a good show, but not close to their last trip to the 9:30 Club. I bailed on Hockey Night last night because I was just too tired, but I am planning on catching Mogwai on Wednesday.
Also, I'll try to get the month in pictures and the May playlist up tomorrow. But no promises.
Posted by Kyle at 12:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 4, 2006
Hard Times
Wizznutzz on last night's Cavs/Wiz game: "Hi, I'm Queen James. If you call me for a foul, I will scowl and pout and look all gassy and act like you've just called my mom a felon. Really, though, I'm perfect. In fact, when I take a dump it comes out wrapped in a giftbox and smelling of lavender." I went to bed so I missed the ending. I see no reason why I should have to stay up late to see an East Coast team play in the playoffs. Totally ridiculous.
That said, if you're not watching this series, you're missing the best matchup in the NBA playoffs. And yes, that includes Mamba v. Raja. For all this talk that "LeBron is the man at 21" blahblahblah, people seem to forget that Agent Zero is but 24.
My John Vanderslice interview has some legs around the internets.
Just in case you haven't seen them, here are the Radiohead tour dates for the US that you have no chance of getting tickets for.
Here are those new Radiohead songs everyone is talking about.
Download some new Bloc Party from Coachella.
Go here to download a Giant Drag gig from the recent UK tour.
The politics of Morrissey. [thanks Glamourpuss]
How about Lost last night? Wow. Office gossip says Libby's not done yet and Jack and Claire are siblings.
Posted by Kyle at 1:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 3, 2006
Link Dump
Download a new track from The Stills at their MySpace page. Stream the whole album here.
Two (Windoze Media) streams from The Eagles of Death Metal:
"I Gotta Feeling"
"Cherry-Cola"
Quicktime streams for Cut Chemist:
"The Garden"
"Storm" (featuring Edan and Mr. Lif)
Stream some Be Your Own Pet:
"Bicycle, Bicycle You Are My Bicycle"
"Adventure"
Stream Hard-Fi's "Hard To Beat" video in Quicktime.
Pitchfork v. Travistan, the results are in.
Snowden's album on Jade Tree will be out in August 2006.
Hey, look everyone, it's Jake Dobkin!
Shave everywhere dot com [thanks Gl*mrocker]
Posted by Kyle at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 24, 2006
Stormy Weather
After sitting on a bus for most of the day on Friday, I grabbed Ms. Smith and we drove to North Cackalack on Saturday for a friend's wedding. It poured most of the way down there, but by the time it was time for them to say their vows, the sun was out. Pretty cool. It was nice to see all of my friends from college. Most of them don't come north of the Mason-Dixon line, so weddings are about the only time I get to hang out with them, although a beach trip in October is in the works.
I bought the Bukowski:Born Into This DVD last week and watched it last night when I got back. It's magnificent and it pulls off the seemingly impossible task of making Bono kinda likable. Watching it reminded me that I haven't put up any Buk on the site in quite a while. I'll have to change that this weekend. Slightly related; Bloomsbury was nice enough to send me a copy of jPod, so I'll be diving into that this week.
For Fico, who sadly missed the Elbow show in NYC last week(worst!), here are Elbow's radio sets from KEXP and KCRW. I'm glad I decided to pony up and take the train to NYC.
Echo & the Bunnymen return to the Black Cat on June 26th! I am so there. I wonder why they aren't playing the 930 Club this time around?
Torr has a Viva Hate outtake for your downloading pleasure.
Ivor Novello nominations are in.
Depeche Mode to commercially release recordings of all of their upcoming US tour. Pearl Jam says Hi.
The Super Furries are playing a small show in Cardiff before their summer full of festivals.
Posted by Kyle at 12:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 21, 2006
Three Years
Elbow was/are fucking mega. Webster Hall wasn't so bad. Big space, great lighting, tall stage. No complaints at all. The same cannot be said for openers The Cloud Room. They were horrible. Met up with Central Village and Jen Daily Refill after the gig and drank late into the night with the obligatory night cap at O'Connors in Park Slope. Visitng NYC is fun but I'm glad I don't live here anymore.
Oh yeah, today is information leafblower dot com slash blog's third birthday.
Posted by Kyle at 11:24 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
NYC, Here I Come
Off to catch my train to NYC for the Elbow show tonight, but I wanted to direct your attention to Editors acoustic performance on AOL (and awesome interview with Redboy) along with a few of my pictures in the accompanying photo gallery (#'s 5 & 6).
Rock.
Posted by Kyle at 1:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
Puncture Repair
Here's the Elbow setlist for this tour. Very much looking forward to the show in NYC tomorrow.
Morrissey played Salford last night. Here is a collection of reviews. Set list here.
This is a joke, right? The RIAA and MPAA join together and form MAFIAA (Music And Film Industry Association of America). They stole that from The Onion, right?
Related: The RIAA encourages students to drop out of school to pay for their lawsuit settlements.
Also related: The Canadian RIAA is falling apart at the seams.
Apple's Safari showing major growth amongst browsers.
Related: Great picture.
Catching sight of a pretty woman really is enough to throw a man's decision-making skills into disarray, a study suggests.
Now then, where was I? Oh yeah...
Posted by Kyle at 2:13 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 6, 2006
The Operation
Greetings from the land of "Jeezy Creezy, my to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer!"
Saw the Knicks and Wiz play on Tuesday night. Good lord the Knicks are bad. If I hadn't gotten that ticket as part of a larger ticket package, I'd be pissed I spent money on that game. But I saw the great buzzer beater of ought-six with that money, so it's all good. I am, for the record, loving all the shit that's being heaped on Larry Brown's plate. Serves that fucker right. Go to hell UNC.
Free shows by The Walkmen for everywhere except DC. I would be mad (actually, no I wouldn't) except that when they play DC, a certain local band that I will not shut up about are going to open. Hottness.
Now that is a tour worth seeing. I might even be convinced to stick around for the headliners.
The Futureheads sign to Vagrant (scroll down). My love for The 'Heads is well known around these parts. Arctic who? In fact, seeing The 'Heads at Pitchfork was the swaying vote over going to Lollapalooza. Sorry Peabs. I'd love to see QOTSA again, but Futureheads+Spoon+Art Brut+Ted Leo+The National for $30 is to good to pass up. Plus, I'm more likely to get a photo pass to Pitchfork. I am seriously debating making big sign that say "Why Does The National Hate Washington DC?" and bringing it to the show when they play. They REALLY need to add Maximo Park to that bill though.
Giant Drag, the new Alien Ant Farm. The Joggers have been added to the GD show here in DC, so I guess I better go get tickets before they disappear.
PS - Diplo on July 23rd! So there.
Pearl Jam are getting Robert Pollard, Sonic Youth and Tom effing Petty to open for them on various dates on the second leg of their US tour. We're stuck with My Morning Jacket here. I say stuck because I just cannot get into Z as much as I try. *shrug* But...TP! Opening for PJ. Wow. Check here for all the dates.
The Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje&T Classic basketball tournament. Best.
Posted by Kyle at 1:02 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 29, 2006
Ask Me Anything
MacBook Pro is Fastest Windows XP Notebook.
Annie + Richard X = Drool.
ProductShopNYC interviews a very subdued Beastie Boys.
Don't send Mark Cuban your effing meme's.
Editors @ 930 tonight. And I have a photo pass! Check here for the hottness tomorrow.
Trying, really trying to like First Impressions of Earth. Other than a few songs, it's not really working. On the other hand, the "new" Maximo Park record is incredible. Can't stop, won't stop listening to it.
Posted by Kyle at 1:53 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 27, 2006
Go Mason!
Watch any good basketball games this weekend. If you only watched the UCLA games, your answer would be no. How glad am I that UCONNvict lost? Now I know what everyone else feels like when Duke loses.
Swamped at work today so this will be a short one.
Stream (Quictime) the new Flaming Lips video for "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song", directed by Traktor.
Photos of Morrissey at SXSW.
Dear labels, publicists and press people, read this, please. Pretty please.
Best!
Even better! Congrats dude.
Full week this week. Yikes. Billy Bragg tonight, dinner with friends tomorrow, Editors Wednesday, another dinner on Thursday, The Agenda on Friday, Nethers/Final Four on Saturday. At the risk of repeating myself...Yikes!
Posted by Kyle at 1:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 23, 2006
Drool
All I want for my birthday (in June) is a Radiohead tour. Oh, thanks!
Stream the new Moz album on MySpace. I've listened to it a few times and I really like it. Much more varied and fleshed out than the last record. I stayed away from a lot for the hype for this record, which tempered my expectations a bit. His voice is in fine form. I think the band could be up a little in the mix, but overall, me likey.
Did you see Gerald Green's dunk at the end of the Celtics game last night? Like Woah. Do yourself a favor and take a look.
Tonight:
Duke v. LSU @ 7 (Nervous about their frontline)
Georgie James and Joggers @ 9:30 at the Black Cat
Posted by Kyle at 1:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 20, 2006
Return of the Leaf
Back from holiday. *Sigh* But it was good to see Mr. Pink again. I missed him.
I'm so glad SXSW is over, if only because my inbox won't be filled with PR firms, promotion companies and other bloggers emails like "OMG!! ____ IS PLAYING A SPECIAL 25 MINUTE SET AT SXSW!!!!"
The only important thing that happened in Austin was this (review here). Dan, did you go? How was it? Ack! You did! And you saw the Bunnymen too? ON THE SAME NIGHT? I think I just had an aneurism. For fuck's sake.
Moz v. Douglas Coupland. Not exactly Leaf v. Bob Ryan, but hey...
I did get some non-SXSW emails last week:
Watch the new Eagles of Death Metal video featuring Jack Black and Dave Grohl (Quicktime)
Watch the new video from The Streets (Quicktime)
Watch the video for the new Flaming Lips song (Quicktime)
Watch the new video from We Are Scientists (Windoze Media)
Listen to the new Pearl Jam single.
Also, very important and for the record, I picked up Supernature, the new Goldfrapp record, and it is insanely good. Bordering on Mylo good. It'll definitely be in the running for my album of the year. The first three tracks are straight buttah.
More holiday photos after the jump.
Posted by Kyle at 1:21 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 9, 2006
Links
Built To Spill "Conventional Wisdom" streams:
Quicktime / Windoze
Tom Vek - Things Are Here To Stay (MP3) - I think he was on the OC last night or something.
Watch the Editors video for "Munich" in Windoze Media.
Lady Sovereign MP3's:
Random
Mizz Beats Remix
Flaming Lips audio stream, for "The Wand"
Quicktime / Real
Video for Dirty on Purpose's "Mind Blindness"
The Stills - "In The Beginning" - go and listen at Myspace
New Thom Yorke/Radiohead MP3'a.
Coolfer has the haps on the new Mogwai.
In other news, Gerry McNamera is ridonkulous. Two times in tow days. Had to leave in OT, but go 'Cuse.
PP messed around and got a triple double last night. Quoth the Boston GLobe:
It's pretty hard to imagine Pierce being better than he is right now. He is on a scoring tear unseen in the storied history of the Celtics' franchise, having now scored 30 or more points in 13 of the last 14 games. He led the league in points scored in February. He is the only player in the NBA to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
Another night, another career high for Ryan Gomes. PP is avergaing 33 ppg in the 12 games started by Gomes, the team is 8-4 in those games. Ain't that a co-inkydink. The C's are 3.5 games out of a playoff spot.
Posted by Kyle at 2:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
The Power Is On
My weekend in a nutshell: DJ, go to the office to do some work, shop for a shirt to wear Saturday night, DJ, go back to the office to do some work, go home to do laundry, do more work at home while watching the C's beat the hated Lakers. Fun, fun, fun 'til someone takes my turntables away.
The Agenda (now with new website linkage) was alot of fun on Friday. There were two separate girls there having birthday parties, so we had a good early crowd and they were requesting decent stuff, so it was all good.
Saturday was even more fun. Sommer and her former housemates threw a big party at the Ellington that I'm glad I didn't stick around to clean up. The sound system in the "party room" kept overheating every so often, but that was the only downer to be had. The last time it happened, near the end of the party, just as it was getting out of hand, we were playing "Gold Digger" and the sound system in the room just shut down, leading to a slew of "Kanye is too hott for this party!" jokes for the rest of the night. I took a ton of pictures, some posted here, but all are over at Flickr.
Parties for no reason are BEST. They're even better when everyone dresses up. Thanks Sommer!
Big ups to fellow Saturday night party attenders and all around cool kids Catherine and Tom (please resist all urges to call the TomCat) for getting their propers in el WaPo on Sunday. Respect.
I had to check my internet connection and make sure everything was working properly after reading all this positive national press about the Celtics. Like Woah. PP ended the month (where he is currently leading the NBA in ppg for Feb.) with a 39 point game in his hometown to beat the Lakers. Suck it Kobe! Worth mentioning that PP has held his own v. Kobe and LeBron the last week or so. Tell me why we want to trade him again...
Ack! Opening Day is just over a month away!
Posted by Kyle at 1:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 23, 2006
Leafblower Is Me
The next Bluestate is March 11th.
Unbuckled tonight. The Agenda tomorrow. Come get your leaf on.
Here are some Mylo MP3's for you via RCA:
Muscle Cars
Drop The Pressure
Best Buy had a ton of Mylo CD's in stock last night. Which is more than I can say for their William Orbit stock.
That's all I got for today. I'm like, busy and stuff. Come have a beer tonight and we'll hang out then. I'm gonna play the new Morrissey single like 14 times.
Posted by Kyle at 1:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2006
Hello Waveforms
Caught the Wiz / Twolves game last night. Gilbert Arenas is bananas and Marcus Banks is his bitch. Went home and watched the C's win their fifth road game of the year in Utah. Wally got hurt in the first, but PP and Delonte picked it up. PP is leading the league in scoring in the month of February.
Listening to the new William Orbit album Hello Waveforms over at AOL(which has a ton of good albums available to stream) and it is teh hotness. Much more accessible than Pieces In A Modern Style. If you liked any of his Strange Cargo records, you'll love this. In the interest of full disclosure (and name dropping), I used to help manage William. And by "help manage", I mean did tons of paperwork, arranged for his gear to be shipped all over the world, talked to Dido and Gwen Stefani on the phone, delivered things to him at the studio and took one for the team every once in a while and kept Beth Orton company. Yes, it was a very demanding job. And I never got my gold record for Pieces In A Modern Style dammit.
Best! I have some decent bootlegs of this song but a studio version would be nice.
Woah. Nice move.
Get drunk with Morrissey. Also, new fan Q & A over at True To You dot net.
How do you go about choosing songs for your forthcoming tour?
Simon, Durham.
--
I usually pick the songs that I'm sure people would least like to hear. And I'm never wrong. If I don't give people something to complain about then I've failed.
I think we all want a cleaner, quieter leafblower. I know I do.
In case I haven't mentioned this before, I am DJing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. Tomorrow night is Unbuckled 2.0, Friday night is The Agenda and I'm doing a private party on Saturday. I can't wait until Sunday. Here's the Unbuckled flyer in case I haven't posted this yet.
Come get your leaf on!
Posted by Kyle at 12:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 15, 2006
Tonight!
Nethers @ Black Cat tonight. I'll be there with camera locked and loaded but I doubt I'll get any good pics in the Backstage.
Nethers play the Knitting Factory in NYC tomorrow with The Like, so if you're in the Big Apple, be sure to check them out.
A whole bunch of new Yeah Yeah Yeah MP3's.
It appears the Pistons are about to cut bait on Darko and ship him to the Magic with Carlos Arroyo for Kelvin Cato and a first round draft pick (lotto protection TBD). At what point does Teflon Joe Dumars start ctaching heat for his lousy draft record? Mateen Cleaves and Rodney White say hi. Check out these quotes about Darko [via Deadspin] some of which are pure gold, but sadly doesn't include Rasheed's "Darko is straight up gangsta" quote. But still fun to read. Related: Why does Chad Ford still have a job?
Also, I like the Vlad Rad for Chris Wilcox deal. For the Clippers. They need outside shooting in the worst way.
Love it, this too. Respect. Also: Related.
One extra day for Lollapalooza.
Robot funerals and spitting pennies. Best.
Uh-oh! Look out Mr. Pink. Related: Mr. Pink went to the vet on Monday and he has gained five pounds in 7 months! Yikes! Guess who is now on a diet? I also bought a lazer pointer for hours of kitty fun disguised as exercise.
Posted by Kyle at 2:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 10, 2006
It's Go Time!
So here is the deal. Natalya and I have a new DJ night (because, you know, we aren't DJing enough) each and every Friday night at the Cue Bar on U Street. We kind of did a soft launch last week (a beta test if you will) and now it's gonna be a full time gig. Music, beer, food, pool, darts, ping pong, we got it all. So come on down and get your Agenda on. Admission is free.
Aha, that's more like it! All praise the Grizz!
This was the only reason to watch the Grammy's. I wish I would have seen it even if it sounds a bit anticlimactic.
Oh wait, it doesn't look like many people watched.
W00t!
Also, this just in from the fine folk at Earfarm...They have informed us that Mancino will be playing a free show at Chief Ike's Mambo Room on Saturday. "But leafblower, why is this notable?" you may ask, and I'm glad you did. Apparently singer/guitarist Mike is "a big time Celts fan." Say no more!
Posted by Kyle at 1:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 9, 2006
Away Game
Went and saw Feist last night. I have a review up at DCist.
Say what? The grammy's were on last night? I missed them. Wait, let me guess, u2 won alot and Bono wouldn't shut up. Am I right?
Current obsession Matt Pond PA at the 930 club in March. That's the night I get back from my snowboarding holiday. I'll have to play that one by ear. Only $10 though...
PP is an All Star but Kendrick Perkins separated his shoulder in practice. What a craptastic season this has been.
Posted by Kyle at 5:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 8, 2006
Now At Last
Go here to download the Morrissey single "You Have Killed Me". Sounds like a rip directly from MySpace, but at least you don't have to stream it. Worth noting that this is the first of the three new songs that I really like. Although it's too short.
Also loving that Diplo remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
hahahahahah.
Pitchfork: That was your last show until this spring. It seems like you spent the entire year on the road.
Berninger: We toured about 10 months and finished right before the holidays. We're just kinda trying to stay home and relax and start work on the new record.
So The National toured for 10 months and played DC a grand total of ZERO TIMES. I bet they played like 37 shows in NYC and Philly in that time. But are you ready for the ultimate irony? I'm not going to be in town when they play DC. I'll be snowbaording in Utah. Can you believe that shit? I don't even like that band that much but this thing has taken on a life of it's own. I already bought a ticket so if you need one, holler at me. Voxtrot are next on my list. They cancelled their show here and still haven't made it up, despite booking other shows on the East Coast.
Now this is good stuff. More please. And yes, that sums up the Celtics season nicely.
I waited all weekend for a recap and this is all I get? Oh well, I guess everybody's a VIP to someone.
I'm sorry, if we're going to continue with this post, we're going to have to go off the record.
Posted by Kyle at 1:29 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 24, 2006
No Key, No Plan
Exhibit A with whats wrong with today's NBA. I'm one of the biggest sports fans you'll find but this is just ridiculous. The Pacers have to put their foot down here. Tell Artest, that he's got what he wanted, he's been traded. He as 24 hours to report and take a physical. After 24 hours his pay (yes, he's been getting paid this entire time) will be suspended until he takes his physical. If he doesn't report, he doesn't get paid. He shouldn't be allowed to control his fate like this, especially after all he's done to get to this point. The Pacers better hope this trade goes through, otherwise Artest's value drops considerably and making a deal, any deal, becomes considerably harder. BTW, I don't like the deal from Indy's side. Peja is soft, just like the Pacers. But I digress...
Exhibit B with what is wrong with the NBA today. I doubt this will even stick.
Some songs I'm currently obsessed with and figure to be on the February playlist:
Art Brut | Good Weekend (MP3) - This song is FUCKING BEST. Love the unbridled energy. There is a band coming to DC this weekend that's been trying (and failing) to write songs like this for the last couple of years. Art Brut tosses them off with ease.
Buy the Art Brut album at Amazon or download it from eMusic.
Okkervil River | No Key, No Plan (MP3) - I wasn't impressed when I saw them live, but did hear a Buffalo Tom influence, which is apparent on this track, hence it's undeniable hookiness. I bought this EP off of eMusic and I like about half of it. The uptempo stuff really grabs me, but they lose me on the slower tunes. But this song is a keeper.
Buy the Okkervil River EP from Amazon or download it from eMusic.
We Are Scientists | This Scene Is Dead (MP3) - I cannot quit listening to this song. Download and listen only if you are prepared for it to burrow into your frontal lobe.
Buy the We Are Scientists album from Amazon.
Damn, wish I could've been there.
No DC date for the Strokes tour.
Are you reading the "Where Have All The Baggys Gone" columns over at Oneloudernyc? No? Shame on you.
Posted by Kyle at 10:22 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 23, 2006
Losing California Washington
Oi. What a weekend. Sports-wise that is. Friday night I watched the C's win a squeaker over the visiting Nets as Wince Carter missed a shot in the final seconds to send the game to overtime. Ha ha. So I was jubilent, if only for a few hours. Duke lost to Georgetown the next afternoon in what was one of the best college basketball games I've seen in quite a while. Shit, I was almost pulling for Georgetown there at the end. They outplayed the Devils, plain and simple. Cheers to them. The C's also lost to the Nets on Saturday night, but that was just preparing me for the smackdown that would occur Sunday night. Day-um. The Seahawks just demolished my poor Panthers. I was in shock. I had never seen a John Fox coached team play that poorly in a big game. I knew we were in trouble when Nick Goings left the game, not because he would make the difference, but because we'd have no running game without him. Fuck. Oh well. We were banged up and playing on the road again. So it goes. Still, I think the Superbowl will be entertaining, despite the lack of big market teams. Here's to next year...
I also did alot of wandering around The Mall and downtown DC over the weekend. My photography class took a field trip to the Botanical Gardens and I took a few rolls of film. I also went to the Natural History Museum and the adjoining sculpture garden over the weekend. The weather was too nice to stay inside. Once I get everything developed I'll try and scan the photos and upload them to Flickr.
Despite being depressed about the game last night, I fought the weather and made it down to The Warehouse Next Door to take in Aberdeen City. I had seen them last time they came through town but didn't stay very long because it was v. late on a school night. This time, however, the band really hooked me with their show and I had no choice but to stick around and enjoy the music. This Boston four-piece is going to be the Jonathan Papelbon of the indie rock set. You may not know who they are right now, but you will in a year or two. Highly recommended. A few more photos on Flickr now.
Brad has MP3's of Editors in Boston.
Paul Weller says Oh Snap!
Massive Attack gets the greatest hits treatment.
Even more embarassing than the u2 iPod? The Franzia Walkman.
10 thoughts on the new Intel iMac.
Mood altering cat parasites make women friendly and men into jerks. As if I need help being a jerk.
TV News on the internets: West Wing cancelled and the cast of Lost get a raise.
Recorded music sales continue to dip.
Posted by Kyle at 1:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 20, 2006
Worst!
MYLO FORCED TO CANCEL U.S. TOUR
Mylo has been forced to cancel his forthcoming dates in the U.S. due to a hearing condition.
Having contracted a virus over the Christmas period which has caused him temporary hearing loss, Mylo had been advised to cancel live shows in Japan and Australia at the start of the year. He had hoped that his condition would recover sufficiently to allow him to perform live shows in the U.S., unfortunately his recovery is very slow and no real progress has been made. As he has been recommended to completely recover he has been advised by his doctor not to commit to anything further at least until the end of February. Mylo deeply regrets having to cancel the dates.
However, even though Mylo will not be able to tour the U.S. as planned, his new release Destroy Rock & Roll will be available in the States on February 7th.
I cannot tell you how depressed I am to hear this. Fuck.
Posted by Kyle at 6:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Asleep In The Back
Thanks to everyone that came out to the DCist Happy Hour last night. We drank, heard some great tunes, chatted, watched UNC lose to UVA and had alot of fun. Cue Bar is a great space. Spacious, well lit, great beer selection and a huge DJ booth. V. nice. I took a bunch of pictures but haven't had the chance to upload them yet. Tonight if I have time. I'm also very happy to report that I have no blogging related drinking planned for tonight.
Unfortunately Seeking Irony was too sick to DJ last night, so I called in DCeiver for back up and he did just fine, especially given the short notice he had. Get better Natalya! I played a song by The Caesars in your honor.
NME's preview of Ringleader of the Tormentors.
*Sigh* So true. Depressingly so, in fact. I listened to the new Richard Ashcroft record over at NME.com and it's shockingly bad. Terrifingly so. It makes me sad. Music needs Captain ROCK, not this poofy twitter. Bring back Mad Richard!
Nooooooooooooooooo! *sniff*
Also via LHB, a cool site for concert posters.
OMG! This is the best thing ever! So good it made me type 'OMG'.
Nice.
How to find the best photos on Flickr.
Finally!!
Busted! Sue the fuck out of them. [via five five zero zero, who did ANOTHER redesign]
I'm back, bitches!
Mark Blount is still a Celtic, although now the big rumour is BLount + Ricky Davis + Marcus Banks for Olowakandi + Wally Swerviak. Wally's contract is huge, but he and Raef expire at the same time so that would be $26 million of the Boston cap in 2009. I'm not a huge fan of Ricky and it's not my money, so I say get 'er done. The downside of this, should it happen, is I'll have to learn how to spell Wally's last name. Right, like I'm one to talk.
Go Panthers!
Posted by Kyle at 1:20 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 19, 2006
Can't Lose
Finally got a copy of the We Are Scientists CD and it's pretty damn good. If you get your hands on one, make sure and give it a few spins. It took me a few listens to get the whole record, but once it locks in, it's very enjoyable. I've been pumping "It's A Hit" all day long. The drumming on it is superb. I love the way he rides the hi-hat.
Other recent music acquisitions:
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
I'm torn by this record. Sound and production-wise, it's the record I wanted them to make. But the thing is, it's not very good. The drums are a little to far up front and Julian just cannot sing. I thought the crappy production ruined their second record. "12:51" would have been huge if you could actually hear the vocals. But now we know why they've always been buried in the mix. I had high hopes for this record too. The first four songs are catchy, energetic and hooky, everything that the band does well. But once "On The Other Side" cues up, the record starts sliding down hill precipitously. The songs just go on and on with no hooks and nothing to make them stand out. This record is a disappointment. If you want to hear what this record should have been, go buy Aha Shake Heartbreak. The Kings of Leon are much better than the Strokes at their own game.
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll
This record, however, is just amazing. Amazingly cheeky and tons of fun. I can see why Oneloudernyc raved and raved about it. This band strips rock music down to its essence and puts it on display by hitting you over the head with their witty lyrics and clever riffs. Big, dumb, fun rock and roll that doesn't take itself too seriously. The Darkness for the indie set. I got it off of eMusic and I highly recommend it. "Good Weekend" is worth the price of admission alone. They're touring the US soon and I can't wait to see them.
Big ups are due for The Bicycle Thieves and Cedars. They will be headlining the 930 club next Friday along with the Nethars in an all local bill. As I'm sure you all remember, Catherine and I booked both BT and Cedars(Cartel back then)to play DCist's Unbuckled show last year. And now they are headlining the 930. I think it's great that a club as big (in staure and capacity) as the 930 would give these bands a chance to play a show like this and only charge $10 for admission. I'll definitely be there and I hope the rest of D.C. comes out to support our boys.
Check out the new Kraftwerk box set. It looks like a laptop.
The reunion EVERYBODY wants isn't gonna happen. Not that I can blame him.
It's hard to be Scott Stapp. [via Coolfer]
Unfortunately Mark Blount is still a Celtic, but my vigil continues. He only played 6 minutes last night while Big Al and Perk ruled the Minnesota front line. Everyone here knows what a big dork I am, a sentiment that will no doubt increase when itell you I damn near got misty eyed when i read this quote:
''I get tired of people saying [Kendrick and I] are not ready to play together," said Jefferson (18 points, eight rebounds). ''I feel like we are. We're both composed and we both can shoot the ball. When he scored, I felt like I scored. When I scored, he felt like he scored. I feel we're going to see this a lot more in the future.''It's going to be our time one day. Hopefully, for the rest of the season we're going to give them a little taste of how it's going to be."
Are you listening Doc?
The Sports Guy is on a roll. Pissing off Isiah Thomas and giving a shout out to Giant Drag!
And the next Chronic(what)cles of Narnia movie will be ...
DCist Happy Hour tonight! Be there!
Posted by Kyle at 1:59 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
January 18, 2006
Busy
Sorry folks, lots of stuff going on in the world of getting paid. There is plenty of content in my head as well as my inbox, and hopefully one day it will make it onto the internets, but not today.
To Do Tonight:
1) Blogger Happy Hour
2) Duke v. NC State
3) Lost (obvs)
4) Pick out music and prepare for DCist Happy Hour tomorrow.
5) Wait impatiently for the Mark Blount trade to go down.
More later. Whenever that is.
Posted by Kyle at 1:49 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 12, 2006
Coax Me
I present you, loyal readers of this blog, this lovely photo in the place of any real content today.
Sorry, it's busy around these parts.
Posted by Kyle at 1:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 11, 2006
It's Happy Hour Again
Come have a few beers with me and the rest of the fine folk at DCist next week. The one and only DJ Leafblower will be spinning some tunes along with some other fine purveyors of the indie rock and such.
Morrissey confirms a few UK tour dates.
Ghostface! Catch the blast of a hype verse and go see the Wu on tour.
Brit Award nominees. [via Coolfer]
For shame all of you. All those words spit about Malkmus and nary a mention of the lovely and talented (headliner!!) Rebecca Gates? It's not like Malkmus played "Westie Cannot Drum" or anything like that.
Hmmmmmmmm...
Posted by Kyle at 1:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 10, 2006
Funny
This is what I get when I try and click on the video of the software demonstration in this story.
Posted by Kyle at 8:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
No Key, No Plan
Anyone going anywhere interesting for restaurant week? As usual, I slept on making plans so I'm sitting this one out.
In training for most of the day, so we'll be light in the content area today.
Say goodbye to the Powerbook and hiya to the MacBook Pro. I am on the fence about the new name. Also, new iMacs.
Big ups to Frank Chromewaves for the shout out in his interview over at Muzzle of Bees.
Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Don't ever throw a mouse into a burning pile of brush, lest it run under your house while on fire and burn the fucker down.
Pitchfork get proactive about the new Futureheads album.
Oh fuck. Look dude, not that it matters to you or anything, but I've only owned three replica basketball jerseys in my life and I don't want my favorite one to become an ironic throwback, ya heard. My Latrell Spreewell Golden State jersey hasn't seen the light of day in years and I have no idea what happened to my Chris Mullin Olympic Dream Team jersey (which is too bad because that shit was HOTT). Stay green Paul.
Posted by Kyle at 2:01 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 5, 2006
Give It Away Now
I stayed up for three+ quarters of the big game last night, but missed the electrifying conclusion. Luckily The Sports Guy has a great recap to get me (and anyone else that missed it) up to speed. Coming in, I thought USC would be the victor, but when they missed that 4th down conversion early and then Reggie Bush decided to try that incredibly stupid lateral, I knew there would be trouble. Oh well, it was a fun game to watch, even if I was flipping to the Celtics game during commercials so I could yell at Mark Blount. Speaking of, I scored tickets to the game on Saturday when the C's visit the MCI Center. (Thanks Michele!)
Peter Gammons Boston Globe chat transcript.
Barry Gibb bought Johnny Cash's house in Tennessee.
The Futureheads ready their new album. It was/will be produced by Ben Hiller.
The Rolling Stones are too old to attend their own concert. Slightly related, I heard a very crazy rumour about a possible touring partner for the Stones when they come back to the States next year.
John Stewart to host the Oscars. A wise choice methinks. He killed at the Grammy's way back when.
Surround sound added to MP3 format.
Posted by Kyle at 1:59 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 3, 2006
The Start of Something
More than once last year my boss has told me to take a vacation. We get two weeks paid leave each year from our company and coming into the last week of 2005, I had only taken six of those days. I finally gave in and took some time off last week, heading to the Poconos for some snowboarding and some serious chill time.
I hadn't really been snowboarding since my knee surgery two years ago. I went once in '03 and once in '04 but both of those were really trial runs and the conditions weren't great so I couldn't really push myself on the mountain. There were three different slopes near the place where I stayed in Pennsylvania and since I had already been to Camelback (and wasn't really impressed with it), I chose to go to Shawnee Mountain this time around. I had low expectations going in but I was pleasantly surprised with the way the day turned out. It snowed off and on throughout the morning, and although the mountain was entirely open, there wasn't really a big crowd there so it was easy to pick and choose which trails to go down. I got a full day of boarding in and although my knee was a little sore, it held up just fine. Good enough that I will be planning at least two more trips later in the year, one in Vermont and another out West. I am so glad snowboarding season is here.
The rest of my time since Xmas has been spent watching DVD's. I got the motherload for Xmas and am really getting my money's worth. I had forgotten how much I loved Sports Night when it was on the air way back when. Easily one of the best written TV shows ever. I never really started watching the West Wing but seeing Sports Night again has made me rethink my position on that show. I know most of seasons 1 & 2 of Coupling by heart but for some reason never really caught the third season, so most of those episodes are new to me. The first season of Lost is really putting the second one to shame. Something big seemingly happens every episode, something you definitely can't say for season two. It just seems to be spinning it's tires. And I've never seen the first season of 24. I cannot effing wait for the new season to start in two weeks!
I start my new job today! New floor in the building, new cube, new everything, including a new computer so I finally have iTunes at work. God bless streaming radio.
Posted by Kyle at 12:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 23, 2005
Holiday. Celebrate.
information leafblower is on holiday until next Tuesday.
Happy Holidays everyone.
Posted by Kyle at 8:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 20, 2005
Addendum / Small Favor
I just got tickets to see Butterstick! Get yours here. Hurry, the weekends are almost gone. I'm lazy and took a date and time later in the month to allow for maximum sleeping-in probability, but there are earlier times still available. [via Wonkette]
Also, during the summer I did an interview with Southwest Airlines Magazine, I think it's called Spirit or something like that, about the whole Nike contest. I had pretty much forgotten about it until last week when two people from work informed me that they read about me on their flight. Apparently I am the main focus of the article(which is funny because Johnny English kept asking me, "What, the 14 people that finished ahead of you in the voting weren't available?"). *Gasp* My cover has been blown! Anyway, with the holiday travel season fast approaching, I'm wondering if someone that has a flight on Southwest could grab a copy or two for me so I can check it out. Thanks!
Posted by Kyle at 1:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Alternative Nation
IS anyone else obsessively reading about the transit strike in NYC? Sometimes events like this in NYC can be alot of fun. The blackout of 2003 was a hoot. But mostly because I was already home. OK, nevermind.
The Guardian on music in the year 2005: Enough Pete Doherty already. I second that emotion.
Me too, only for different reasons.
The Super Furries, The Darkness, The Strokes and some others yet to be announced will rock out for alternative energy in January at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium.
Related: 2005 may be the warmest year ever.
10 applications every new Mac owner should have. [via Lifehacker]
Quickrflickr. Sweet!
Posted by Kyle at 1:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 16, 2005
Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud
Well, we're officially past the halfway point of December, or as I like to call it, the "31 days of drinking" and the schedule shows no sign of letting up. Tonight I'm going to go check out Cartel Cedars at the Black Cat, perhaps with a side trip to Bliss thrown in, before getting all festive at the Annual TomCat Holiday Party. Sleep? What's that? I'm unfamiliar with the term.
I know the upcoming schedule for the 930 is completely craptastic, but peep what's coming up at the Black Cat:
Sat, Jan 14th: Bluestate ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY DANCE PARTY. Obvs.
Sun, Jan15th: Craig Wedren (ex Shudder To Think)
Thur, Jan 26th: Calla (really digging their new CD, I was going to put a song up for download today but I woke up late)
Wed, Feb 1st: The Hold Steady (finally! CatPita (iPod R.I.P.) and Grambo have both approved this band, so I'm intrigued)
Sat, Feb 4th: Low
Thur, Feb 9th: Feist (w00t!)
Fri, Feb 24th: Stars (I know I hated them last time, but I think I'm going to give them another shot)
I've also heard good things about Animal Collective and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, both of who are playing in February. Props to the BC for booking two solid months of shows when there generally aren't many great band on tour.
Also, let it be known, that The Hold Steady have thrown down the gauntlet for The National. WHY DOES THE NATIONAL HATE WASHINGTON DC?
Beatles sue EMI. More over at The Beeb.
Oasis added "Talk Tonight" to the set in Glasgow. Buzz.
New Moz Q&A over at True To You dot net.
Come over here and tour you fuckers.
I think I already posted this, but Yay! New Underworld.
First Impressions of Earth, from widdly-woo to widdly-woeful.
Posted by Kyle at 12:36 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Fortune Teller
My fortune, from today's lunch of chinese food:
Kind of apropos considering everything that has been happening to me lately. I've gotten quite a few emails asking me what in the hell was the good news I was talking about last week, well here's the scoop.
I got a new job!
Actually, I'm moving into a new position at my company, leaving the world of print production behind for the wonderful world of eMedia. Now I'll have an excuse to stare at a computer monitor all day long. I'm very, very excited about this opportunity and I feel like all the work I've put into the leafblower and the other sites I've written for is finally starting to pay off. You have no idea how many times me ex told me I was wasting my time writing stuff on the internet. I had to hear it alot, but in a way it just made me more determined. I guess that's why she's my ex. She mars.
So come January 3rd I'll be editing our flagship website, which gets a few hundred thousand hits a day. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but in a good way.
Bob Pollard at the 930 Club on Jan. 28.
Feist at the Black Cat on Feb. 9th!
Stephen King hearts Spoon (scroll down), but Kazakhstan does not heart Borat.
Who will be the hottest bands next year?
Concert review: Oasis in Cardiff. Same old set.
Look out UK, here come The Wiggles.
Agreed. Stop it already.
Less Mr. Pink? For serious?
Posted by Kyle at 12:22 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
November 29, 2005
Motion Suggests
Dummies guide to Lost. [via Jen Daily Refill]
Did I point you to the new Richard Ashcroft single yesterday?
Some tools to sort out the MP3's on your computer. I have ripped MP3's under "Echo and the Bunnymen", "Echo & the Bunnymen" and "Echo & The Bunnymen" so I feel your pain.
Rock n Roll HOF noms announced.
The Modfather nixes any chances of a Jam reunion.
iTunes outsells Tower and Borders in the US.
Major props to Kriston Grammarpolice for his new gig as the official blogger of the Smithsonian, as in American Art Museum. Cheers buddy!
Ronald MacDonald charged in robbery at Wendy's. Seriously.
Posted by Kyle at 2:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 28, 2005
Junior Kickstart
The next few weeks are the busiest time of the year for me at work, so everyone is going to have to bear with me.
I have lots of pics from my holiday, I'll try and get those up soon. keep an eye on my Flickr account in the meantime.
Lots of news from the Moz camp about the upcoming record with the unfortunate name. Moz did a Q & A with some fans over at True to You dot net and most of the news services have run something about the new record being a different work from You Are The Quarry. So unlike some other bands I like, Moz is not resting on his laurels.
Gorillaz planning live DVD. I still like the first record better. Del and Dan the Automator make all the difference. It seems like Danger Mouse saved all his good beats for the DangerDoom record.
Supergroup looking for a singer.
Idlewild leave Parlophone. Some indie label out there needs to sign this band and show them some love.
Microsoft doesn't recommend using Internet Explorer.
The Sports Guy returns to DC on Dec. 6th. I have a copy of the book now so maybe I'll go back again. At least the people that still ponied up for the books to be signed at a later date still haven't gotten them.
Hear me now, believe me later. The Jags will do just fine with former ECU QB David Garrard at the helm. Peter King agrees.
R.I.P. Mr Miyagi and George Best.
Posted by Kyle at 12:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 15, 2005
Downtime
Last day to enter the Supergrass contest.
That's because I have another contest for you, this time for The Magic Numbers. They'll be in DC on the 18th, supporting Bright Eyes. I'll be giving away the following:
Grand Prize: "Love Me Like You" on 7", full length self titled CD and a t-shirt.
All you have to do is email me and tell what number is the magic number, and name a band that has covered the Schoolhouse Rock tune which tells you what that number is. I can think of two different bands that did this, one English and one American. Both put out shitty sophomore albums if that helps any.
The Magic Numbers: "Forever Lost" (video)
Windows Media
RealONE
QuickTime
Visit their Myspace page for more goodies
You can listen to their album via their eCard.
Saw Okkervil River last night. Yawned throughout(although I was in the minority). I liked it better when it was called Old 97's and Crooked Fingers. They did have one song that sounded like Buffalo Tom. I liked that one best. Let me go on record saying I fucking hate the Iota when it's crowded. There's not a single place you can stand there without getting stepped on, jostled or pushed. Worst.
Outkast record bumped to next year.
Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson is the new head of editorial at MSN Music. Nice one my friend.
Here is the proper link for the 100 most disappointing albums.
Kazakhstan doesn't think Borat is very funny.
Improve your Photography without using your Camera. Speaking of, great photo.
Build your own record cleaner.
I have so many things to say about this and the utter ridiculousness of it all, but Joanne says alot of it for me. Only a blogger can clean his overpriced New York apartment and become a Taoist in the process. Trying to convince everyone else to do the same just makes it worse. Also note Jake sarcastically saying he makes a "robust" $2000 a month from Gothamist.
Where does that money come from?
Advertising.
Why do people advertise on Gothamist?
Because of the number of readers.
Why do so many people read the sites?
The content.
Who makes the content?
The writers.
How much do the writers make?
Not a single fucking penny.
I don't begrudge Jake taking a salary from Gothamist, he and Jen put in alot of work on all the -ist sites, but mockingly explaining that he doesn't make much money from the sites while the writers make nada is just like school in the summer. No class.
Which brings up the whole Jason Calcanis sells out to AOL for 25 to 40 mills. No one asked the really pertinent question there. Did any of the writers get a cut of that money? If not, were they getting paid beforehand?
Posted by Kyle at 10:49 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
November 14, 2005
Back Tomorrow
Totally swamped at work right now and most of my RSS feeds are in or approaching triple digits, so...
Whew. At first I thought I might have to go see Coldplay, but it turns out, I don't. Again, whew.
The 100 Most Disappointing Albums.
Coolfer has a guest blogger. Great Idea.
First draft of the Judith Miller retirement memo.
Oneloudernyc tries to get all informationleafblower in NYC by seeing a band from the UK three times in one week. Dude, copy me much? I'm kidding of course. Nothing is better than seeing a band you like multiple times in one week. I guess I need to check me out some Art Brut!
Buy some Graham Coxon artwork.
Queen at Live Aid. Best. gig. ever. Except for the Super Furries at Hoboken on the MWNG tour, or Radiohead at Irving Plaza after the Tibetan Freedom Concert in NYC.
I'm going to see some band called Okkervil Tributary or something like that tonight. I hear they're good. I forgot to mention that I finally caught Caribou (pronounced by Gruff as "Kerryboo") in Carrboro and they were so much awesome. Like a Canadian Mogwai. So good. I'm going to try and peep them in Chi-town this weekend. The band are all nice blokes as well.
Posted by Kyle at 1:37 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
November 10, 2005
White Light / White House
Just about to head out on round one my Super Furry Road Trip but I wanted to tell you what happened last night. About a week or so ago, a friend at the White House offered to give me and a few friends a tour of the West Wing in all it's glory. Of course I jumped at the chance and got a small group together. Last night was the actual tour and it was one of the highlights of my time here in DC. We got to see the Oval Office, the Rose Garden, the Press Room and everything in between. We also got a quick tour of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is next door to the West Wing, and sat in the conference room where the Watergate Tapes were made. It was just an incredible experience. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside(for obvious reasons) but let me tell you, the West Wing is much smaller than you think it is. It has very low ceilings and smallish rooms. The tour was a real eye opener. Our friend, who also acted as out tour guide, is a real history buff and had a wealth of knowledge about the building and the history that's happened there and it added something special to the experience. Quite frankly my mouth was agape the entire time. Here's a shot of me behind the podium in the Press Room:
Could I seriously be less photogenic? More pictures of my White House tour over at Flickr. Only in DC bitches!
That's all I got today. Time to hit the road.
Posted by Kyle at 12:07 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
November 8, 2005
Tonight!
Hello Sunshine.
You'll just have to take my word for it that this picture looked MUCH better at home on my Mac. Busybusybusy day today. Fellow Virginians, don't forget to vote!
SFA is on at 10 p.m. tonight, so we're all meeting up at DC9 around 8:30. Come say "Hi"!
Soundbites has a review of the Super Furry show in NYC (pretty much cementing the fact I made the right call in skipping Webster Hall) as well as the Elbow gig from earlier in the week.
And in the longtimenohearfrom category, unofficial information leafblower correspondent Emily D. checks in from last night's SFA gig in Beantown:"...they kicked so much ass. of course. they were quite a spectacle and had some hilarious banter going. Gruff went on about how Cian & Bunf ran the marathon while they were in NYC over the weekend, but that he couldn't run due to a "calf injury" so he 'passed out oranges and wrapped my friend in blankets - to do my part.' awesome." Thanks for the report Em! Always nice to hear from you. Hope Boston is treating you well.
Here's a Super Furry article from the Providence Phoenix.
How to make a blog header graphic.
Yesterday I forgot to mention the crappy weekend the Celtics had. Friday restored my complete and utter hatred of that effing motherfucker Richard Hamilton and Saturday we lost to the effing Bobcats. I'm just trying to put it all out of my mind at this point. But it was nice of Grambo and Peabs to call up and offer their condolences.
Posted by Kyle at 12:24 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 31, 2005
Good Feeling
I'm sure most of you had a wild and crazy weekend, but not me. I took it easy. I stayed in on Friday, cooked some food and did some writing. Saturday I went out to dinner with L Boogie, Johnny English and some other friends in Crystal City. JE was running the marathon on Sunday, so we went out to cheer him on. We missed him (somehow) at the 12 mile mark but caught up with him around the corner at mile 14. JE actually bested his time from last year by like 20 minutes. Nice one sir. I had a great time at the race, so I wil refrain from commenting on Metro's inability to run trains at sensible intervals to ferry race watchers around the course. Jeezy Creezy. I took lots of pictures and they're up on Flickr.
My new camera is out for delivery today!
The setlist from Depeche Mode's Bowery Ballroom show.
Peep this, you can buy live Mylo DJ sets from the UK company Live Here Now. So much awesome.
I might have to pick this up.
Jarvis cockers adds "poet" to his impressive resume.
Franz Fedinand to cover Air's "Sexy Boy" on their next single.
Football legend George Best is seriously ill and fighting for his life.
Also, I am FINALLY getting around to uploading all of the old archive photos from my typepad site to my current site, so I can delete my old site and save $8 a month. It's a bit repetitive, but it's something I've been putting off for over a year. Unfortunately each time I republish an entry, it resends out all the original trackback pings again, which is seriously annoying. So if you got some weird trackbacks on old posts on your blog, that's why. I'm sorry, but I have no idea why it's doing that or how to fix it. If you know how to turn this off (or fix it entirely), drop me a line or leave a comment and my seriously underpaid IT staff will get on it. Thx.
Finally, this morning someone from the fine town of Montreal logged on to the leafblower searching for pictures of Melania Knauss and became my 300,000th visitor. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Thanks to everyone that comes by and reads on a regualr basis (you know who you are). Not being one to rest on my laurels, I have some really fun and interesting things planned for November, starting with my annual NBA preview tomorrow. So stay tuned!
Posted by Kyle at 1:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
Cautiously Optimistic Bordering On Really Effing Excited
Ummmmmmmmbest? How did this happen and me not know about it? OK, who can get me one of these posters ASAP? [via goldenfiddle]
How a Web site helped the Bucks acquire an All-Star.
Police force Brendan Benson to play the last half of his Berlin gig acoustically after saying his gig was "too loud".
The Artic Monkeys do something to merit those Oasis comparisons.
Speaking of, Noel must be promoting a new single or something.
Guero remix album tracklisting.
Thank you for setting the record straight. I have problems with that too. Great post.
From today's "Make 'Em Say 'Duh'" newsfile; iPod nano lawsuit will only benefit attorneys.
Hey, I almost forgot! I have a contest for you all. Supergrass just released their latest record, Road to Rouen, and I'm really digging it. To celebrate, I'm giving away the following:
GRAND PRIZE: Limited edition tinymeat ipod case, a copy of Road to Rouen, magnets, pins and a "Kiss of Life" CD single.
Runner Up Prize: a copy of Road to Rouen, magnets, pins and a "Kiss of Life" CD single.
All you have to do is drop me a line and tell me what Supergrass video saw the group imagined as giant muppets. Winner will be announced in two weeks.
To tide you over here are some Supergrass links and videos:
Road to Rouen album website
"St. Petersburg" video Windoze / Real / glorious Quicktime
Finally, here is video of the band performing on Leno.
I also remembered my Forgotten Fovorite today.
Lush: Sweetness and Light (MP3)
I heart Lush and this is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Quoth the bar manager at Saint Ex when I played this last week. "Wait, is this Lush? Fucking Sweet." Indeed. And while we all know Miki was the really, really hot one (I totally have a thing for pink hair), any Lush fan worth their salt knows that Emma wrote the best songs, like "Sweetness and Light" (lyrics). Remember when VW used this in a Jetta ad? This is from the album Gala, which was the band's first three EP's all packaged together. I think Spooky is still my favorite album of theirs. Buy some Lush at Amazon.
My camera shipped last night and travelled from Maspeth, NY to Saddlebrook, NJ to Harrisburg, PA to Laurel, MD in the span of about 15 hours. Unfortunately, it's not scheduled to be delivered until Monday. Oh well.
Posted by Kyle at 10:24 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 27, 2005
Say It Ain't So
The Red Sox are officially former World Champs. *sniff* Oh well. At least we can be 100% sure that the baseball gods hate the Cubbies. Ever wonder why it's the Red/White Sox and not Socks?
The C's ended their preseason on a high note last night. Gerald Green, take a bow. Here's to many more.
That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you.
The good folk over at ProductShop NYC give us a much needed update on Jarvis Cocker, including the haps on the music from the next Harry Potter film and a download to boot. In case you forgot, I'm a big Jarvis fan.
Ooh ooh ooh, is this coming out over here too? Pretty please? I have fallen off the Rufus wagon of late but I will hop back on on Halloween night when he plays the 930 Club.
Best Idea EVER. Coolfer, what say you? [via my camera recommender]
Big ups to my homey The DCeiver, who is guest editing over at Wonkette for the next 48 hours. Nice one.
If your 5G iPod is fucking up, turn it in now and reap the benefits.
If I knew anything about la Traviata, I would make one helacious joke out of this.
How to fight splogs. Splogs, worst term ever.
I got a new cell phone today! Now all I have to do is figure out how to get these Henry Rollins ringtones on my new toy! [via Largehearted Best]
Posted by Kyle at 1:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 26, 2005
Evergreen
I just ordered my Canon Powershot G6! Hopefully it will be here in time for the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday.
Here is my interview with We Are Scientists. More of it will be available soon on the next DCist podcast.
I'm STILL pissed at Spoon for completely passing over DC/Baltimore on their upcoming tour. Fuckers!
Maximo Park to soon begin combing over their new record. Even though they have yet to play DC behind their first record.
Goldie Lookin' Chain, not totally a joke. Only kinda.
Liz Phair hearts podcasts.
OK, fess up. Anyone bought one of these for their iPod Shuffle?
Latest Sports Guy mailbag.
I don't have much other content today, so I'll do what I usually do when I don't know what to talk about. Talk about sports! I caught the Celtics/Nets game last night, and while the C's lost in OT, overall we looked very good. The Nets started strong but their starters faded in the third, especially after JKidd went down with a boo boo. If you were wondering, yes, Vince Carter is still a punk.
The C's looked very good at times, building up a 20 point lead with the starters in the third quarter before the bench gave it away in the 4th and OT. Rookie PG Orien Greene is going to earn some heavy PT if he keeps up his heady play (making Marcus Banks or Dan Dickau expendable). Considering he's just a rookie, he's doing really well at running the offense. Former Net (and current blogger) Brian Scalabreezy finally showed he had a pulse last night, and actually hit a few jumpers. Al Jefferson looked good in limited minutes before fouling out.
In case you can't tell, I'm looking forward to the start of the season next week.
One final note, the Milwaukee Bucks might have cemented a playoff spot by trading Desmond Mason to New Orleans for Jamaal Magloire. Great deal for the Bucks, although is this a vote of no confidence for #1 pick Andrew Bogut?
Posted by Kyle at 1:49 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
October 18, 2005
Faithful
I'm sorry for neglecting you all. It's been a busy day and my head is going to explode if I read one more digital camera review. They all contradict each other and it drives me crazy. "Doesn't focus well in low light", "Takes amazing low light pictures!", "Screen broke after two weeks", "Sturdy construction", etc. Argh. The more I read, the more confused I get and I feel my desire for a new camera slipping away. The further I go, the less I know.
Best free fonts. I am such a font dork.
I present to you (dramatic pause) the ubertap! Unfortunately, it's about 10 years too late for me to do anything with this.
My cell phone plan runs out at the end of the month, so you know what that means...new phone! If I was in the UK, maybe I would get the Oasis mobile phone to go along with my Mylo iPod.
Reissue, repackage, repackage!
Peep the Quicktime video for the Magic Numbers track "Forever Lost".
Oscar Wilde action figure. Straight gully.
Marcus Banks is out three months! Luckily we have 247 other point guards on the Celtics roster.
Arkansas St. player refuses to wear adidas.
Coolfer took great pleasure in informing me this happened right by my old crib in the 718.
Posted by Kyle at 2:50 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 17, 2005
Get Down With The Sickness
I had big plans going into this weekend, but I spent almost all of it fighting off an impending cold. Friday night I braved the sports bar, despite my failing health, to check out some pre-season Celtics basketball. Not the most exciting game, but I'm convinced Ryan Gomes is going to be a player in this league. If he doesn't become a starter at some point this y