Behind The Scenes Video from Tropfest @ Tribeca

If you couldn't make it, Lewis has made it possible for you to feel as if you did. Although, I'm still not talking to you.

Seriously, though. Great job, Lewis.

The Eames Era - "When You Were A Millionaire"

Even after hearing this song about 1,100 times in the edit, it's still my favorite song of the year.

"The Wrong Kid Died!"

Judd Apatow, after years of being a Hollywood underdog with many failed series and movies and a cult following, is now relentlessly assaulting the box office. First it was 40-year Old Virgin, then Knocked Up, and Superbad which is, as I type, undoubtedly printing money. And now he's released a trailer for his next conquest, Walk Hard. I personally miss the bittersweetness of his ill-fated show Freaks and Geeks over the broad comedies, but he's still making broad comedies better than anyone. And this spoof of musician biopics just might be his funniest yet.

I have an iPhone

And a case of priapism.

New Mini-Games Coming For The Wii

Whadd'ya say my place, november, some virtual beer pong, skee-ball, and darts. Because real drinking games can be so tiring.

Homegrown Daft Punk Video

Skip to the one minute mark and then witness the budgetless brilliance.

Super Mario, Now With Death

The classic game from your childhood got a bloodlusty makeover. Spill some koopa blood here.

Paul McCartney Is One Lazy Billionaire

I like Paul McCartney a lot, but I watched his new iPod commercial in horror. I like the spot as an ad, I like the suit and sneakers look for the admittedly difficult question of "How should a really old rock legend dress?" It's cool that he's promoting a new song, and I don't mind the song musically.

But the lyrics, Paul, the lyrics. Good god, man. I mean, honestly. This is going to be heard by people. With ears. Connected to brains. That have not been lobotomized.

Hold Steady Frontman Fronts On Dead Frontman

I've always found The Doors to be the best example of "accessible edginess" also know as "non-edginess". Their music hit me, even at an early age, as indulgent, mediocre and pseudo-intellectual, much like Oliver Stone's movie about them(and all his other movies). And really, what was their contribution to rock history? To pave the way for Lenny Kravitz and a bunch of other so-so musicians who look good in giant belt buckles?

Brooklyn Vegan points to this article from The Guardian asking musicians to call Bullshit on a "classic" album. Makes for a good read, though I think the wise ones chose dead musicians. Craig Finn of The Hold Steady chose The Doors L.A Woman but particularly seems to go after the man in the leather pants. It makes sense seeing as how Craig is the polar opposite of the lizard king in every imaginable way. It's also nice how the other musicians used words like "attitudinising" and "unreconstructed" to detract, my man just calls Jimmy a "drunk asshole". Full piece below:

"The Doors LA Woman
Nominated by Craig Finn of the Hold Steady

In America when you're growing up, you're subjected to the Doors as soon as you start going to parties and smoking weed. People think of Jim Morrison as a brilliant rock'n'roll poet, but to me it's unlistenable. The music meanders, and Morrison was more like a drunk asshole than an intelligent poet. The worst of the worst is the last song, Riders on the Storm: "There's a killer on the road/ His brain is squirming like a toad" - that's surely the worst line in rock'n'roll history. He gave the green light to generations of pseuds. A lot of people told him he was a genius, so he started to believe it. The Velvets did nihilism and darkness so much better - they were so much more understated; what they did had subtlety, whereas the Doors had little or none: they were a caricature of "the dark side". I actually like Los Angeles, but the Doors represent the city at its most fat, bloated and excessive. Morrison's death does give rock some mythic kudos, but that doesn't make me want to listen to the music. In fact, if it comes on the radio, I change the station."

Triumph The Insult Comic Dog At The Tonys

Fantastico. Don't miss the last 30 seconds.

Google's Unbelievably Cool/Creepy New Feature

Ever wonder what your front door looks like? As you slept soundly one morning last fall, some Google geeks drove by your house and filmed it.

You Shouldn't Need Convincing, But...

With 2 out of 4 members in Scottsdale last week, Untucked shot a promo to prove two things: my stepdad Reg is the undisputed man and The Eames Era are playing the two can't miss shows of the summer.

New HBO Show - Flight Of The Concords

It's like a hipster "The Office", with all your favorite lower-east side comedians popping up. Here's the first episode in it's awesome entirety:

Flight of the Conchords - Pilot

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Outdoor Summer Concerts I Care About (So Far)

Summer Concerts are a mixed bag, I find. Some are free which is great because I like money. But as a result the crowds seeing your favorite bands are much bigger and less devoted. The ones that cost fix that problem but still usually have beer line issues, sweletering heat, etc.. I will probably be more selective this summer than years past, but these three shows are musts for me:

The Thermals @ McCarren Pool (Free, Sunday, date TBA)



Cat Power/Built To Spill @ McCarren Pool ($40, Saturday July 7th)




The Hold Steady @ Prospect Park (Free, Thursday, August 9th)

Patrick Wolf Gets Untucked

The boys and I shot this Virgin Megastore appearance. You can see the entire show here.

Pulp Muppets

You'll never believe who plays Eric Stoltz.

Just Admit It

You love this clip.
You'd love to work here.
You love this song.
You want a SILF shirt.



You think the response is damn good too:

The Hold Steady @ NYU

For better or worse, the crowd of NYU students and hardcore fans who finagled their way in was the most rowdy of any Steady show I've seen. The moshing and stage diving makes me slightly proud of my Alma Mater, but for some it was a bit much. Not that it was aggressive, but it was constant and pretty intense. Not bad for a booze-free venue.

First of all, where have the Thermals been all my life? Best set by an opening band I'd never heard of in a long damn time. I guess it was kind of a double bill, since they have a following. For three people who look more like a study group than a rock band, they tear in up. I bought their latest CD and can't wait to listen to it, though I can't seem to find it this morning.

The Steady started with Positive Jam, and you immediately knew this crowd was going to toss you around a bit. The setlist was pretty standard, no major surprises. Craig made a crack about A-Rod finally hitting, which I guess is better than him referencing that they're in last place. Lots of people snuck through a side door and onto the stage to stagedive/crowdsurf. In the Killer Parties encore, Tad Kubler(guitar) surfed while playing. Then as, Craig prepared to follow, my friend Dan stole his moment and beat him to it. There was a little bit of second encore blue balls, as it took a minute for the lights to come on. We were out of smuggled Beam anyway. It's so hard to rank Hold Steady shows. It's more a feeling of another great night to put on the memory shelf.

Also, the whole show but especially the Thermals were insanely loud. I guess we're old, but there is rampant hearing loss among my crew today.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

Woke up to see my favorite author has died from brain injuries suffered during a fall two weeks ago. He was 84. His writing always struck me as totally original for blending wit, fantasy, absurdism and morality. He often wrote about beings from another planet, I believe, to have something to contrast people with. He seemed to speak for the human race to a vaccuum, with equal parts shame and pride. He also like to draw anuses.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"It used to be the whole point of smoking was that we were killing ourselves, and we didn't care."

"Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be."

"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."

"1492. The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them."

"By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."

"The big trouble with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to believe there is such a thing as being smart."

"The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn't want to be used by anybody."

"So it goes."

YouTube Gem

Stumbled on this while cruising youtube. I can't remember seeing a short this funny in a long time. Don't know anything about it except it stars Nick Frost, half of the comedy team behind Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, out next Friday.

The Clay Steady

Here's Steve's kickass video for the Hold Steady's video competition. He, Nicole and Chuck worked really hard on it and every bit of their labor paid off. Now give him the prize already.

Brooklyn Bars (almost) As Bad As Manhattan Ones On Weekends

If I knew photoshop I would have pasted little trucker hats on these fish.

Time Out is crushed that 90% of the great Brooklyn bars are mob scenes on Friday and Saturday nights. The article points out that "just a few years ago, the borough’s Tuesday and Saturday bargoing experiences were nearly identical" but that now a line to get in is not uncommon at the ridiculously popular community-center-like Union Hall.

It is true that on weekends a nagging feeling in my gut says, find a house party, hit an out of the way bar like O'Connor's or B61, or stay home. A recent Saturday at Floyd was jammed, and had some of the worst meatheads I have ever seen fall backward onto a bocce court and refuse to apologize to the nice people playing.

At least BBQ season is getting close.

(Thanks Lewis)

Hold Steady Play Bruce Springsteen Tribute Show

Someone said it was a little boring overall. But what a finish. I shouldn't have cheaped out. I saw Craig & Co. at Hi-Fi afterward, they were glowing.

Here's hoping they sell the audio on iTunes.

Bright Eyes Cassadaga

First off, this a Bright Eyes record, so if the sound of his voice makes your soul hurt, then this record is not for you. But if you love him, prepare to keep right on loving. Musically, it's closest to I'm Wide Awake It's Morning. Buttery and elegant, with that perfect amount of slide guitar/pedal steel bluegrassiness(32.8%). There's the perrenial weird first track, some lady yammering about the spiritual town in Florida called Cassadaga. He still doesn't like Bush. If The Brakeman Turns My Way instantly claims squatter's rights in your head. Like Poison Oak off IWAIM, many songs build to swells that are very worth the wait. The first listen didn't wow me, but man is she a grower.

BTW, I choose to believe the song Classic Cars is about Conor having a night of life-changing sex with Emmy Lou Harris. Seriously, listen to it. He's not even really cryptic about it. He may as well just call it "I got all Harold and Maude in Emmy Lou's business".

Human Giant Premiere

I've seen bits and pieces of the new MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant and I wish I could buy stock in it. Set your tivos and divos. Thursday night at 10:30.

MTV Human Giant Season 1 Trailer

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Arcade Fire Tickets On Sale

While Ticketmaster did start to wig, in the end it held together and I got two tickets Row S for the monday show. Way to earn that convenience fee, Ticketbastard. So it looks like there may not be a sequel to this:

Hold Steady Video

I shot this with the Untucked Crew for the band's video contest. Steve and Lewis each did one too. I will post em as soon as they're on youtube. JBL gift certificate here I come.

Feist - The Reminder

I found this leak last week on a message board(read: I'm cool). To my amazement it's challenging Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire for the much coveted Jonathan's Favorite Album Of The Year So Far Award. I thought her first one had its moments. This thing is wall-to-wall moments. Heartbreakers and toe-tappers abound, and she can really belt 'em out for a skinny white girl. Maybe I'll buy my dad the CD and see if he gives it a better review than Regina Spektor("This is the worst music that has ever been recorded").

Back?

So I've kind of missed my little blog. It's a lot of pressure to keep it going. I'm kind of a fleeting obsession kind of guy. There's very little I do day in day out. But maybe I can just post once in a while.

Anyway, which of this blog's massive readership will be the first to notice it being back? Such suspense! Will it be Lewis or Sam? Be the first to post a comment to this and I'll buy you a Cherry Tavern special.

BTW...

I updated to the new blogger and somehow lost my logo. It's not the same. Gotta figure out how to get her back.

The Voxtrot album leaked this weekend. I'm listenting to it right now. I think I like it a lot. The Feist leak is also good. If anyone wants it, let me know.

If you have eight minutes and twenty five seconds, watch this very funny video Ricky Gervais did for Comic Relief.