and they say GIHYB hates ...

bruce. "the ghost of tom joad" is tha slice. top 3 springsteen. i could deal without the 2nd solo, but morello is what he is (but i ain't heard audioslave) ...

williamsbeard

sometimes i'm guilty of letting my friends rag on our nabe of williamsburg a bit too much ... condos, idiot hipsters, kickball, etc, etc, etc. sometimes i'm not quick enough to remind them of some of the finer aspects of it (great restaurants, a bar for every citizen, a place where kokie's used to exist). imagine my pride when I caught word yesterday that it had been named by the hip intelligentsia as the "beard capital of the USA". our immigrant population has put us on the map! kudos.

smokers outside of turkey's nest circa 1864. courtesy brooklyn historical society

"is you satisfied?" (update)

the replacements, reissued first four albums

alternate title: "are we recordin this? ... i ain't singin"

they're here, and it's a bear of a listen ...

i'm throwing it out there as always, i love 'let it be'. it's probably in my top 20, maybe top 10 occasionally. there's no denying its importance, its highlights, and fuckit, its place in my life, but i've always considered 'hootenanny' the greatest replacements album. it's a non-starter argument. it has everything that was great and awful about the band. it's the breadth of westerberg in 2 sides (no offense to all involved, but it was always him). sloppy, concise, bad, mocking, even to quote em 'tedious' at times, but my ears heard brilliance. no compromise, no self-doubt, nuthin, pure band at the top of its pre-world game. everything after (however brilliant) reeked in self awareness. this was band in enclosure, feelin their home grown atmosphere. and smart. the squad.

random thoughts (pt. 1) ...

the mats knew how to edit themselves, stinker cuts on albums be damned-- most of these outtakes are downright boring (as was the case on the sire comp a few years back).

anyone "caught by surprise" by the maturity of westerberg's writing on 'let it be' should take a re-listen to "if only you were lonely" on the sorry ma cd. this gem appeared on ... oh yeah, the first record they ever put out (b-side of "i'm in trouble" single).

the sorry ma cd kinda stunned me. in the past i've too easily dismissed it. it's a terrific record. reeks of adreneline. and to FINALLY get to hear the demo tape that caught twin-tone's ear is pretty great. a seed of an idea, with the horse pulling the buggy way beyond its speed

bob stinson deserved to die for not letting the mats do "you're getting married" (stink cd). great to finally hear it on something other than a 19th generation cassette dub. that's right, i said it. sorry bob.

surprisingly candid interview w/ the normally cantakerous (is that a word?) westerberg.

and tommy

GIHYB Contest!!!

a randomly chosen mixtape for the contestant who can explain the meaning of this to me.

sorry, "frankly my dear ..." is already taken.

old skool

ron wood, gimme some neck (columbia)

we're breakin out tha vinyl!!!!!!

we just bought a new turntable. had been without for far too long* to justify the 4000 lbs of plastique takin up more acreage than kitchen-related products. dug this outta the heap.

bought during stones-frenzy in high school due mainly to the involvement of all the band (cept wyman). this was also the album that wood's "new barbarians" (including keef) toured behind. side two holds the main revelation, a cover of dylan's previously unreleased "seven days". a friggin killer cut given its just before the flood treatment. otherwise, pretty inspired all round with a great cast. wood's on his game.

ronnie's always interested me. appeared on 1 1/2 decent stones albums, but his best days were already gone. jeff beck group + the fucking faces (unsung heroes and shoulda been rulers of the world ... if ya don't agree, punch yerself in the eye really hard & listen to this). who gets to sing one of the greatest songs ever just cuz ronnie lane (tha co-writer) wrote it for rod (biggest waste of talent ever ... 30 some odd years & countin!) stewart & he just didn't think he had the pipes to man it? props mr. wood (and who gets to be called mr. wood? dag).

this is worth seeking. none of his other solo joints hold a candle (and I should know ... since i spent 3 pre-internet years looking for em all).

% listened to before either skipping/turning off/deciding to never listen to music again: 100

revisionist rating (out of 10): !!!!!

rating after original purchase (ed note, possibly as made up as revisionist): !!!!!!!

*ok, we had several, but were too lazy to find needles. need a turntable?

45 du jour

monkeywrench, crystal brown vibrations, (off the album gabriel's horn)

money quote:

i'm sick of my life
but i'm sicker of yours

ed, rip

little short on details at this moment. he'd been fightin it for a few years now (which includes one of the funniest turkey's nest stories ever). more later. i'll miss those conversations buddy. hope they got hoops and horses in heaven.

for the kids ...

"if i was gay, i would be the best gay of all history."

-julio iglesias (self-proclaimed heterosexual) reportedly told a concert audience in L.A. this week.

(cue rocky theme ... extended montage out)

the knife feels like justice

those were tears just streaming down my face. dying!

she & him

i'm so fuckin pissed right now at my "computer" i could smash it into bits. taken it upon itself to delete somethin i really need right now ... so now, with nuthin to do, i'll add to ug's declaration. one of those records i really ran into apprehensively. dug zooey in weeds (and elf) ... but ... lot of moments reminiscent of jenny lewis and the watson twin's most excellent joint (ed note: don't be so obviously lame to compare a girl's record to another girl's) (fuck off, it's a compliment-- and they didn't have that creepy background m ward singing on it). alright, z's a lil more SHOWtune leanin on a couple cuts, but beatle cover (EXTRA-LAME) withstanding. this is one of the best records i've heard lately.

steal this podcast!

patrick foster, a compadre from my VA/DC days, member of one of my favorite bands, one of the smartest music writers i know (and a regular contributor to the washington post, etc) has a blog/podcast ... in the words of fat albert "if you're not careful, you might learn something" (and enjoy yerself the hell outta yerself while listenin). do it up peeps.