Re: The Horrors

Juan: Watch this>>> Horrors interview

Camella: I want to like them but then I see pictures like this (above) and think... really?

Juan: That’s what happens when you are 17 and in a band that gets press>>>>>
If you notice they’ve cut their hair as of late.
Not standing up for it but imagine being in a band when you were in high school and what that might have looked like.
Ouch!!!!

Camella: For the record, I never looked like I blew my entire allowance at Hot Topic. Even at the tender age of 16, I knew this was a dirty deed. I will admit that the main little Nightmare Before Christmas character with the bowl haircut is looking quite amazing as a neo-greaser these days, however those bad Sunset Strip/Roxy/Rainbow Room, partially bleached hairdos on the others in the background still give me big time douche chills.

PS: I bleached my hair once. There is one living document of this, which will go with me to the grave. Thank goodness the internet didn't exist then.

Juan: I love you>>>>>

God Help the Girl

Stuart Murdoch (Belle and Sebastian) has been working on this amazing side project for the past five years. I remember reading something about a year ago where he was holding online auditions for female vocalists, open to anyone, through Imeem. So apparently the results are in.

Although there are some free MP3s floating around, the album proper will be released in June. If you like Belle and Sebastian, you will love this band. If you liked any of Isobel Campbell's side projects, you will freak when you hear this album. Here's some key info: inspiration for this project draws on '60s girl groups, mixed with '80s indie and classic pop. Spelled -- a dream come true.

As a plus, the girls are charming and the songs revolve around a single narrative created by Murdoch. I'm really excited to give this a real listen. Click here for more info and official release date.

New news

I am so excited to announce that I have been offered an internship with the Utne Reader! It was a long road to get here but I am so thankful that this is actually happening. I start late next month. More to come...

I Hear a New World

Whoa! There's a movie coming out in June about Joe Meek with Kevin Spacey in it? What? It's called Telstar the Movie. It's about time this happened because Joe Meek was one weird/amazing/intriguing person, like most other musical savants. The strange and saddening story of his tortured life, short-lived success as a producer and untimely death is fascinating.

"Yes, we expect the works - a rapid rise to fame, weird and wonderful 60s pop, London in its swinging infancy, madness, depression, bizarre studio equipment, heartbreak, paranoia, murder and suicide. We might even get some drug taking and a touch of the occult, too." -- Modculture.com

Dying Breed

There's at least one plant in Detroit that isn't threatening to shut down these days, thanks to the alive and well dance music scene. This video courtesy of Detroit News via Resident Advisor and the Daily Swarm.



These days it seems a new DJ is born every second. Although vinyl has been rumored to be "making a BIG comeback" over the past few years, independent pressing plants like Archer are still having a hard time finding a generation to pass the torch on to.

"I could have poisoned you a hundred times."

No news yet on whether or not Cleopatra and Marc Anthony are really buried at the temple of Taposiris Magna in Egypt. But archaeologists have discovered ten mummies and definitive proof that Cleopatra must have been as beautiful as she was rumored to be. Apparently there has been some speculation that she may not have been as gorgeous as stories say, but those naysayers were squashed last week following the discovery of a bust of Cleopatra and two coins bearing her hotness. We all know it's what's inside that counts but c'mon, love for this woman singlehandedly obliterated empires -- she better have been easy on the eyes, right?

Anyway, although these guys have been digging in and around the temple for the past three years, they are now reported to be "closer than ever" to finding the two bodies, whose location has eluded scientists, historians and nerds alike for hundreds of years. I don't know about you, but I am on the edge of my seat.

Here's a great article on Cleopatra's power and history's lineup of "bad girls."

Bell Bottoms and Gas Masks

National Geographic online published some great photos from the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Click HERE to see the rest of Bell Bottoms and Gas Masks.

Seal of Approval

2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced yesterday. The New York Times gang busted most of the awards in journalism, which included those in breaking news reporting, feature photography and investigative reporting, among several others.

Interestingly enough, in the past the Pulitzer has been extended to the music world, though originally slated for accolades in classical music composition. More recently the award has been broadened to include more diverse categories in jazz composition, as well. Over the past three years, the board awarded posthumous "Special Citations" to John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Past awards in literature and poetry have gone to some of my favorites, Edna St. Vincent Millay, who was the first woman to win the Pulitzer in 1923, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams.

Sea Songs

This feels like way more fun than listening to the ocean in a seashell. Though you have to make the trek to Zadar, Crotia to find this natural sea organ constructed in 2005 by architect Nikola Basic. There are 35 organ pipes underneath the concrete steps and a harmonic sound is created by the sea and air rushing into them. How do people think up this stuff?

LISTEN HERE

Apparently Alfred Hitchcock himself once said this very spot is the best place in the world to see a sunset. We'll put that on the "Someday" list along with my dream of floating in the Dead Sea... Thanks to Arthur for the tip!

Cash for Gold

I was up wayyy past my bedtime the other night and happened to catch a documentary called The Order of Myths on PBS Independent Lens. Apparently there are all types of interesting things happening in Mobile, Alabama right around Mardi Gras time, including secret, masked gatherings of creepy mystic societies. But the bigger point the film addresses are the subtle hints of segregation buried deep within the roots of the Mardi Gras tradition in Mobile.

I laughed but also shed a couple tears during this captivating peek into the lives of multiple generations of two families, (both black and white) who are firmly planted, perhaps forever, in a town that was built on the backs of slaves, and how they deal with the complexity of their own histories.

Foregoing sentimentality, and with little to no narrative, the film speaks volumes by simply documenting the annual event and reveals the deeper intersections of two Mardi Gras Queens, one the great, great granddaughter of a slave and the other the great, great granddaughter of the ship captain who illegally captured and transported them from Africa.

Dope Sick

I'm almost positive my longer than ever expected stint with unemployment (13 months to be exact) bred a counterproductive relationship with the Internet.

Anyway, thanks to a Very Short List email this morning, the rumors I've been hearing about the ability to cut yourself off at the source, AKA "Freedom," actually does exist. Don't panic -- a hard reboot will put an end to the 8 hour window between you and the Facebook. This is kind of like putting the Oreos on a shelf you can't reach but just think of all the time you'll have to belittle yourself while your computer is starting back up. This is way longer than the time it takes to grab a stool and swallow a cookie.

TAKE BACK YOUR FREEDOM

Guiltiest of all guilty pleasures

And by the by, who is ready for the Real Housewives of New Jersey? Now this is some drams I can get behind! I personally authorize the death of the desperate housewife trend, but only after this next season.

Lucky Number

13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests comes out today on DVD. Thankfully, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips are the musical couple that just won't quit. Their steady and slow burning careers in the indie music world have now led them to this project -- setting Andy Warhol's Factory screen tests to their own, lovely score. I would imagine if AW had come in contact with these two they would for sure be in one of his films.

Choking the Alligator

It was all blizzards again over the weekend so we had a Jim Jarmusch "on the road" movie screening all day Sunday. I discovered that Stranger Than Paradise is hands down my favorite movie of the moment (of all time, perhaps.)

I can't get stop thinking about the amazing performance from John Lurie as the angsty and smoldering Willie and Esther Balint as his deadpan little cousin Eva, who says, "Screamin' Jay Hawkins is my main man," in her charming Eastern Euro accent. This movie is TOPS. I will be annoyingly quoting it for months.

Sure makes the PAINFUL 3 HOURS I spent in a movie theater on Friday night at the mercy of The Watchmen seem like it never happened. Except for the barnacle-like memory of the worst/most awkward sex scene in film history, if you aren't counting Chloe' Sevigny and Vincent Gallo in Brown Bunny.

Jail Bait

I'm not sure about this new vehicle, The Nissan Cube, being marketed to "young people" as a "mobile device."

"The phrase, borrowed from the digital domain, signals that the intended market for the Cube is younger drivers. It also signals the focus of the campaign: presenting the Cube as a part of a fun, busy life that can be customized and personalized as easily as a cellphone ring tone or a Facebook page." -NY Times

It will be available this Spring, though it has already hit roads in Japan and the UK. Do you like it?

"... the campaign borrows terms from technology like 'search engine,' 'browse,' 'storage capacity,' 'add friends' and 'set preferences' to describe features of the Cube." -NY Times

This marketing strategy strikes me as particularly hilarious/insulting/brilliant. The car, however, just strikes me as fugly.

Critical Mass

It intrigues me to take notice of the subtle effects the state of the economy has on my everyday life, besides the fact that I am broke all of the time.

For instance, realizing there is literally never a line at my coffee house anymore, which probably means I shouldn't be there either. Or the fact that I am now purchasing my personal items from a clearly overqualified, middle aged, corporate America lay off at my neighborhood CVS. (BTW, this man is by the book -- counts my change, hustles, smiles, etc.)

Seems others have started to see these things, too.

PS: Finally got a job slinging faux French food here in Minneapolis. We'll see how long this one holds up. I'm thinking alcohol sales are going to be a big part of my sustenance. I'm just happy to be working in this "real world" again for a bit. $$$ Drink up.