See you at the Auditions...

Sellout's Steal of the Week: Fiona AppleOr, Yet Another Reason to Hate the Record Industry

As a forward to this post, I have to establish that I do not own any Fiona Apple records. Something about that video in the underwear and all that flat singing turned me off for a long time. But I do think both of her albums are great examples of Jon Brion's genius.

I was just made aware of freefiona.com, a page dedicated to convincing Sony/Epic to release her third album, which has been complete for 18 months now. I once sat by while a "label" (notice the quotation marks) refused to release an album that had been done for at least that long. Of course, we didn't have two plantinum albums in our back catalog!

The story goes that Jon Brion convinced Ms. Apple to come out of retirement to make this album for his sake, so I'm interested to hear it for his contributions alone. In any case, the brilliant minds that spent 6 figures making this album don't think it's worth releasing to the public. Here are a couple of tracks. You be the judge:

Extraordinary Machine: (right-click, save target as)
Better Version of Me: (right-click, save target as)

This House is Haunted with the Ghost of Love. . .

Last night Little Rock music royalty Ho-Hum released their 7th album (I think that's right). I admit I don't get 'em all, but in that catalog are some absolute gems like the moody pop masterpiece MASSACRE.

I haven't heard the new record, but went to the show at Juanita's last night for a preview. Brad Brown is a machine and one of my favorite rock drummers. And it's always fun to go watch Rod get really drunk and piss off his brother.

So here's me second local music plug in a row: If you don't know Ho-Hum, go to playadel.com and order MASSACRE today.

Oh yeah-- as far as the Clinton Library opening goes. I was offered a VIP ticket at the last minute, but remembered how much I dislike crowds in time to stay warm and dry in front of the TV. I got the feeling Bono thought he was going to stop the rain when the opened with the truncated "Rain." I really think he looked disappointed by the last song that he wasn't able to change the weather with his voice.

Sellout's Steal of the Week: Grand Serenade

Alright now. Here's a song from my new favorite "local" band, Grand Serenade. I could go on and on about how much I like this band (I've been wearing Indy out about them for months), but I'll let you take a listen for yourself instead.

Last time I checked, exactly one of them is old enough to drink. I suppose their age is only really significant when I think about how terrible my bands were back then. . .

Anyway, go buy their EP "Crashing Cars" at grandserenade.com.

Download Color My World here:
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How to Download an Atomic Bomb

So the new U2 record leaked last week, and someone handed me a copy. Listening now. If you wanna hear it, it's easy to find, if you know what I mean. Just think about where you usually find those Sellout Steals of the Week. . .

In other news, Bono and the Edge will be in town this week for the Clinton Library opening. Should be an interesting week, given all the left-wing moping of recent weeks. Julian and I are gonna bus it downtown for at least some of the fun. Will post reports here.

Red Chuck should have some good Al Franken stories by the end of the week, from what I understand.

Red Chuck's on a Roll

Call me lazy. Or just uninspired. But today I send you elsewhere for entertainment. You really must head over to Red Chuck's place to see his last string of entries. He's on a roll. He's got good stuff about drunk uninvited houseguests (breaking and entering sounds so harsh) and vampires (why can't we all just get along).

Yours Truly,
SpinSouth

Sellout's Steal of the Week: Solex

Solex is Amsterdam's Elisabeth Esselink, a record store's worth of vinyl, and a sampler. This one is for my dutch friends, Petra and Hermione.

Go get it:
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Selling Out: Because Art Rarely Pays

Thanks to Mike Wolf, whose link to a song about cheese changed my mood for a bit.

It reminded me of a link Red Chuck sent me a couple years ago to a Ween song they wrote for a TV spot. Since "commercial music" is what we do to pay the bills around here, I thought I'd see how many of examples of recording artists writing advertisements we could collect:

Ween doing Pizza Hut. (the second version is a favorite).

Yo La Tengo do Coca Cola.

Yo La Tengo do an anti-smoking PSA.

Yo La Tengo do cell phones.

The Everly Brothers do Coca Cola.

Rufus Wainwright does Gap (kind of).

There's a start. Any more out there? I seem to remember the Finns Brothers doing a Coke jingle, too? I think I have it somewhere.

South of the Border: Another Weekend in Louisiana

Not to change the subject or anything, but. . . We're on the road this weeken to Alexandria, Louisiana to play a cool little thing called the Alexandria Music Project.

We've been promised Ham Sandwiches from Lea's Lunch Room in LeCompte. And we've got plans for catching Pete Harris Cafe in Shreveport on the way home. Go read Pete's history here.

I tried really hard to come up with a post to divert attention away from you-know-what. Driving South, playing music, and eating fried shrimp seems worthy enough.

Good luck, Dylan!

You Can't Win With a Losing Hand: Sellout's Steal of Week

So Bush has his mandate. . . As Bob Dylan said, Things Have Changed.

People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed.

For your downloading and listening pleasure:
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To Hell in Kerry's Handbasket

Alright, I give in. The post gets political. I was pushed over the edge by an email I just received.

Now, I have the upmost respect for everyone's right to vote as they see fit. I've got my reasons, and I know plenty of folks who have theirs. But this s**t is too much. Here's a little excerpt from the email I got from one Brannon Howse, who claims to be the president and founder of something called the Worldview Weekend:


I believe anyone that does not vote on Tuesday is sinning and anyone
that votes for Kerry is committing an even greater sin! We not only need
President Bush but we need members of the U.S. House and Senate that
will support those he will appoint to the federal bench and the U.S.
Supreme Court.

This election is a worldview battle, a battle between good and
evil....it is a spiritual battle. This is it folks.....if Kerry wins and
he appoints Judges to the U.S. Supreme Court; America is lost.

You can reach Brannon at brannon@worldviewweekend.com.

Black Like Me

So if Bill Clinton was the first Black President, why can't I be considered a Black voter? I'm guessing being a registered Democrat on the South side of I-630 has made me just that in the eyes of some eager get-out-the-voters. I've gotten no less than three phone calls (one from Bill himself!) reminding me how important the Black vote is and urging me--as a Black voter--to get to the polls Tuesday and vote Democratic. No problem, Bill... I'm all over it.

When teaching a Freshman Comp class at UCA a few years ago, I had the class take one of those "Are you liberal or conservative" surveys as a starting point for a reading/discussion. The questionaire asked for opinions on a wide variety of "political issues." It turns out I was by far the most liberal person in the room. The survey put me as far left as you could go, right next to Jesse Jackson. So there you have it.

Since we're talking about race, check this out.