David Bowie

David Bowie -- White Light/White Heat [Velvet Underground cover]
From the Bowie at the Beeb (Best of The BBC) live recordings collection.

David Bowie -- A Better Future
From the Heathen album.

David Bowie -- 1984
From the Diamond Dogs album.

New & Notable in the Inbox: The Sapiens

The Sapiens
MySpace
Album: Vs. The Hornet

The Sapiens -- "Void"
Review: That's some tasty tasty high-hat work.

The Sapiens -- "Waitress Waitress"
Review: Otis Redding singing about fried eggs and bagels...

What Made Milwaukee Famous

I am a little sad that I won't be in Seattle on Saturday because I would go to see one of my favorite bands, What Made Milwaukee Famous. They are playing down at Chop Suey on Saturday with Louis XIV at 9pm.

WMMF have a new album out, What Doesn't Kill Us, and I think it is just as good as their debut, if not a hair better.

What Made Milwaukee Famous -- Blood, Sweat, & Fears
What Made Milwaukee Famous -- Resistance St.
These two tracks are from their new album What Doesn't Kill Us.

What Made Milwaukee Famous -- Hellodrama
What Made Milwaukee Famous -- Almost Always Never
These two tracks are from their debut Trying to Never Keep Up. For me, "Hellodrama" is the preeminent WMMF track.

Jerry Lee Lewis -- What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me) [Live]
This is from a Jerry Lee live album...the name escapes me...here is a different one instead.

Happy Birthday CS

Happy Birthday Buddy!


Jens Lekman -- Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa
From the When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog.

The Beatles -- Birthday
From The White Album.

The Sugarcubes -- Birthday
From the The Great Crossover Potential collection.

Sound Team -- No More Birthdays
From the Movie Monster album.

Haven't I Heard That Before? #6: Nine Inch Nails & George Lucas's THX 1138

This entry in my "Haven't I Heard That Before?" series is a little different than usual...this time we have a movie clip that was included in a song.

George Lucas' THX 1138 is a must see for any Star Wars fan. Think of it as the what the world would look like if the Empire had won. One of the more disturbing scenes has Robert Duvall [a.k.a. THX 1138] watching the TV shows of the future...which is essentially robot cops beating a human at first slowly and then faster and faster:



This must have got the creative juices flowing in Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor as he took this clip and tacked it onto the beginning of "Mr. Self Destruct", the first song on The Downward Spiral.

Nine Inch Nails -- Mr. Self Destruct
From The Downward Spiral album.

This Could Not Be Much Better

I graduate from the University of Washington in June and today I found out who my commencement speaker will be...let me give you some hints:

1. He has been nominated for 79 Grammys.
2. He has won 29 Grammys.
3. He was the producer for the largest selling album of all time [worldwide totals].
4. He is tied as the most nominated African-American in the history of the Academy Awards [seven nominations].
5. Wrote songs for Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and Ray Charles.
6. Discovered Lesley Gore and produced "It's My Party."
7. Organized and produced "We Are The World."

and most importantly...
8. He wrote the Sanford & Son theme song...

Here's the info:

Quincy Jones, a distinguished musician, composer, producer, arranger and conductor for more than six decades, will be the University of Washington commencement speaker June 14 in Husky Stadium.

Jones, who was raised in Seattle, also will receive an honorary doctorate from the UW. The awarding of this degree was approved today by the board of regents.

Quincy Jones -- Sanford & Son Theme
From Quincy Jones: 20th Century Masters.

Quincy Jones -- Soul Bossa Nova
From the Big Band Bossa Nova album.

Quincy Jones -- Soul Bossa Nova [Dim's Space a Nova]
From the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Quincy Jones -- Something's Cookin'
From the soundtrack to the original The Italian Job staring Michael Caine.

The Movie of the Spring

Out April 18.

Johnny Cash -- I Forgot to Remember to Forget (Elvis Presely cover)
From a Mojo Magazine sampler called Hail to the King!

D.B. Cooper

They always have the best news in Seattle when I'm not there:

AMBOY, Wash. -- A parachute that could belong to famous hijacker D.B. Cooper has been found and is being analyzed by the FBI in Seattle.The Cooper case has been surrounded by mystery since 1971, when he jumped from a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 with a bag of money containing $200,000 ransom.

The parachute, which the FBI said is the same type that was used by Cooper, was found between the Clark County towns of Ariel and Amboy, near the center of the original jump zone, according to KOIN News 6.The parachute was unearthed in a field that was being plowed by the property owner and was found by the man’s children while they were playing. The children pulled the cloth until the chute’s shroud lines appeared and their father recognized it as a parachute.

The man notified the FBI in Seattle. Part of the chute, which is white and conical shaped, remains buried in the field.Seattle Agent Larry Carr said he will analyze the parachute and look for a label, which could match it to a reserve chute left behind by Cooper on the plane.

More information on D.B. Cooper can her found here, here, here, and here.

Alice Cooper -- School's Out
From the Dazed & Confused soundtrack.

Beach Boys Lawsuit

For those of you not up to date with Beach Boys news, founding members Mike Love [the Wilson brothers’ cousin] and Al Jardine [the Brian Wilson’s friend] have been involved in a lawsuit for years over who has the right to tour under the name “The Beach Boys.” Love argued that he held the license to use the name and wanted the money Jardine made from touring as “The Beach Boys.” They settled the lawsuit on Friday but no details were given as to who gets to use The Beach Boys name in the future.

Any Beach Boys fan has to have severe mixed emotions about Mike Love. Without Love’s vocals on the Boys’ earliest hits, they may never have “made it” yet many biographies of Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys in general have Mike Love as the catalyst for the internal trouble the Beach Boys had and most notably the abandonment of the Pet Sounds follow up album SMiLE. The great song “Hang On To Your Ego” had to be changed to “I Know There’s an Answer” due to Love’s protests. Looking back, one can only guess where Wilson would have taken the group if his work had been embraced and supported by the entire band.

Mike Love on lead vocals songs:
Surfin’ Safari
Surfin’ USA
Little Deuce Coupe
Be True To Your School
Fun, Fun, Fun
I Get Around
When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
California Girls
I Can Hear Music

Al Jardine on lead vocals songs:
Help Me, Rhonda
Vegetables
Transcendental Meditation
I Know There’s An Answer (co-)

The Beach Boys – Hang on to Your Ego
A bonus track on some version of Pet Sounds. This is the original version of “I Know There’s An Answer”

The Beach Boys – I Know There’s An Answer
From the Pet Sounds album.

Mazarin --- I Know There’s An Answer
From the collection Do It Again: A Tribute to Pet Sounds.

UPDATED: I have fixed the link to "I Know There's An Answer." Thanks for letting me know it was wrong. --Matt F.

Write Your Own Caption

Echo & The Bunnymen -- Crystal Days
From the Ocean Rain album.

Echo & The Bunnymen -- The Cutter
From the Porcupine album.

Only You

So we are down to about 34 days until the 3rd Portishead album hits shelves and I have to say I can't remember a time when I was more excited about a new album...well, it was probably for Radiohead's Kid A.

I remember watching Saturday Night Live in 1998 and being pleasantly surprised by Portishead's performance and the genre they championed, trip hop. I fell in love instantly and along with The Chemical Brothers and Prodigy, they were a huge part of my late 90's personal soundtrack. Loren Michaels doesn't let SNL clips on YouTube so I can't post that specific performance of "Only You" but here is one from the Roseland Ballroom.



Portishead -- Key Bored
This song was posted on Portishead's MySpace page.

UCLA

As we all watch our NCAA brackets get destroyed over the weekend [I knew I never should have picked American University in the Final Four!] you should remember that UCLA star, Kevin Love, is the nephew of Beach Boys founding member Mike Love.

Ben Folds Five – Sports & Wine
From the Ben Folds Five album.

A Day in the Life

Last week, I wrote about my yearning to have an American Idol contestant sing “A Day in the Life.” Well AI decided to have another week of Lennon/McCartney songs and wouldn’t you know it, Michael Johns decided to tackle “A Day in the Life.”

Judge for yourself:



The Beatles – A Day in the Life
From the Sgt. Pepper’s album.

The Beatles – A Day in the Life
From the Anthology 2 album.

The Beatles – A Day in the Life
This is a demo alternative version.

The Beatles – A Day in the Life
From the LOVE remix album.

Captain – A Day in the Life (The Beatles cover)
This is from a Mojo Magazine compilation Sgt. Peppers...With a Little Help From His Friends

Jeff Beck – A Day in the Life (The Beatles cover)
From the In My Life collection of Beatles covers.

Spring Break In Wisconie

Thinking about it, I have never gone anywhere warm and sunny for Spring Break. I was hoping for maybe lower 60’s when I got off the plane in Minneapolis on Thursday…instead by the next morning I had this:

Next year chances are I will be living in Wisconsin, Kansas, or Missouri depending on how things pan out and so I’ve got a 66% chance of having a warmer Spring Break next year.

The Arcade Fire – Cold Wind
From the soundtrack to Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends.

Coldplay – How To See the World No. 2
From the charity album Help: A Day in the Life.

Presidential Review: Loch Lomond -- "Paper the Walls"

Band: Loch Lomond
Album: Paper the Walls
Rank: John F. Kennedy

As I was typing away this morning on my YASR musings and thinking about where to take this review, my Grandma asked me “what on earth was I doing.” I said “I’m working on a review of an album by a group called Loch Lomond…you know, like Loch Ness but different.”

“Loch Lomond? They must be from Scotland” she said.

“No, they are actually from Portland” I said. Granny didn’t think that was a very good thing…only bands from Scotland should be able to be named Loch Lomond.” At the end she added “I’ve been to Loch Lomond you know.”

As she is from England it is not that surprising…and yet there seems to be some kind of connection here that I don’t normally find in reviewing new bands.

The real Loch Lomond is located about 15 miles north of Glasgow, Scotland and is the second largest loch in Scotland [after the famous Loch Ness]. The band hales from Oregon and creates a melancholy baroque pop that should not be ignored. Besides the fairly obvious comparisons to Sufjan Stevens, Belle & Sebastian, and The Decemberists, I hear the sort of intensity in their songs that made bands like Joy Division, Interpol, and The Smiths famous.

Loch Lomond -- Field Report

Loch Lomond -- Stripe II
Both tracks are from Paper the Walls.

P.S. Loch Lomond have a local show here in Seattle on April Fools Day at Chop Suey. You can buy tickets here.

New Pete Yorn & Kinky

One Pete Yorn track deserves another...although I never thought I would be posting a Pete Yorn and Kinky track...but then again I never thought I would still be interested in writing this blog nearly a year after starting...

This awesome track is from an album called Altered States which is a soundtrack for a non-existent film put together by Robin Danar...you still with me?....okay, besides this Pete Yorn/Kinky combination there are tracks by Rachel Yamagata, Inara George [of The Bird and The Bee] and Lisa Loeb.

Pete Yorn & Kinky -- Use Me [Bill Withers cover]
From the Altered States album.

Bill Withers -- Use Me
From the Best of Bill Withers: Lean on Me collection.

Every Bill Withers' photo has him looking like the nicest, happiest guy you could ever meet:

Gone, Baby, Gone

I have been meaning to write this for a little bit now but I had more pressing things to write over the past few weeks.

No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood have been supplanted for my Best Picture of the Year by Gone Baby Gone...and I nearly fell off the couch when I remembered that it was directed by Ben Affleck. I had forgotten that completely and I don't really remember seeing him do much promotion for it on the talk shows...or maybe I just wasn't watching that night...

The movie is based on Dennis Lehane's novel [he also wrote Mystic River] so I knew going in it was going to be a solid story but Casey Affleck gives a great performance that I think should have been nominated for something...make up a category if you have to.

Pete Yorn -- Baby I'm Gone (Live at Easy Street Records)
From the Live at Easy Street Records EP.

Download Songs. Listen To Songs. Enjoy.

I first heard about GC.WC.F. through NME and found their debut album used at Easy Street Records...I liked it quite a bit and was excited to receive some new songs/remixes for GC.WC.F.'s 2nd album Searching for the Hows and Whys which seems to be only available as an import in the US currently but will probably have a US release in the summer...

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly -- Find the Time (Alex Mix Edit)
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly -- Waiting For the Monster To Drown (Shoes Remix)
The original versions of these songs are on the new album Searching for the Hows and Whys.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. -- Once More With Feeling
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. -- The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, Pt. 2
From the debut album The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager.

Soft Chew

I think that we have an early entry into Pitchfork's Worst Album Covers of the Year...


Shout Out Louds -- Hard Rain
From the Our Ill Wills album.

Albert Hammond Jr. -- Hard To Live in the City
From the Yours To Keep album.

Timezones

Aaaaaahhhhhh....final exams are over....I leave for spring break tomorrow...and all is right with the world...I am sorry to everyone that has sent emails recently. I will be working through them this week.

I am visiting my family this week in Wisconsin which is two hours ahead of Seattle in the time zone department...My fiance is in Latvia which is normally 10 hours ahead of Seattle time...America just had day light savings time last week [roughly a month earlier than we normally do] but Latvia doesn't do their "spring forward" until mid-April...so whenever we try to coordinate a phone call while I am in Wisconsin, we sound like this:

Beatles + American Idol = ?

Each year I typically watch about five episodes of a given American Idol season and that is typically broken down to three episodes of the initial auditions/embarrassments and two episodes of the best of the best singing...This week's episode fell into the second category as I was interested to hear the song choices and dream of what could be as the group sang Lennon/McCartney songs...

Here are the songs the 12 remaining selected:

1. "Got to Get You Into My Life"
2. "She's A Woman"
3. "In My Life"
4. "If I Fell"
5. "Come Together"
6. "Eleanor Rigby"
7. "Let It Be"
8. "You Can't Do That"
9. "Across the Universe"
10. "Eight Days A Week"
11. "We Can Work It Out"
12. "I Saw Her Standing There"

Not a bad group...some classics and some really, really, really bad/odd choices..."She's a Woman" and "You Can't Do That"????? Yeesh.

So I made my own list of songs that I would have loved to hear them sing...and because this week's show only focused on Lennon/McCartney songs I won't choose Harrison's "My Guitar Gently Weeps" or Starr's "Octopus's Garden."

1. "Rain" -- To me it is the ultimate b-side and if one of the 12 sang it this week, I would have actually called in and voted for them.

2. "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" -- First off, this would be the extended Anthology version and not the shorter edited version...and what would be better than selecting a non-song to sing in a singing contest...

3. "Run For Your Life" -- My far the most disturbing Beatles song and it would have been an interesting juxtaposition from all the boot-licking Ryan Seacrest was doing about how great Lennon/McCartney were/are...and then a would be Idol contestant rips into the lyrics "I would rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man"...it would have been priceless TV.

4. "A Day In The Life" -- The most important Beatles song [not the best mind you and just a hair ahead of "Tomorrow Never Knows"] deserves to be more popular in the Beatles canon and what better way to do that than to have the next Sanjia sing it. It would also require the in-house band to earn their money...

5. "And Your Bird Can Sing" -- I select his one for completely selfish reasons as it is my favorite Beatles song and it is just nice to hear every once in a while.

"Rain" can be found on the Past Masters, Volume 2 collection. "Run For Your Life" can be found on Rubber Soul. "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "And Your Bird Can Sing" are found on Revolver. The version of "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" referenced above can be found on Anthology 2 Disc 2. Lastly, "A Day in the Life" concludes the Sgt. Pepper's album.

Orangina

In the spirit of irreverent bipartisanship, I have to confess my love. I never discovered Orangina until I went to law school and it would be served at various functions. And much like meeting your true love somewhere unexpected (dentist office, mechanic garage, picking up trash as part of court-ordered community service, etc.), I never knew why it was served at law school functions. But I love it anyways. The best description is that it tastes like a non-alcoholic mimosa. It is always refreshing. Matt and I once had a conversation about the most refreshing drink ever. I don't remember what I argued for (probably ice water), but Matt was firm in his belief that an Orange Julius was perfect for that purpose. Orangina is my current nominee.

Perhaps someday I can enjoy Orangina with some Birdseye Steamfresh Super Sweet Corn. And it would prove that heaven really is a place on earth.

Steamfresh

Today's posts were too serious...here's one that's not...

I just want to tell everyone that I love, yes love, Birdseye Steamfresh Super Sweet Corn. Thank you Avril for opening my eyes.



Four Tet -- Serious As Your Life (Jay Dee Remix)
I found this song on a Domino Records sampler...it can also be found on the 2nd disc of the Remixes album from 2006.

More On Mamet

Okay, so when I saw the subject line to CS's post, "Your Must Read Link of the Day" I thought to myself "cool, he found a site that took out Hagar from Hagar the Horrible cartoon and now it is an existential look at medieval society."

But it turned out to be an essay/moaning about a mid-life political crisis by David Mamet. Mamet has always been one of those people that I really don't understand who he is and why his is famous. But there is no doubt that people respect him for something...So I went and investigated...in an nutshell he is basically famous for writing Alec Baldwin's f-words in this scene:



Plus, he did write Wag the Dog...so hats off to that too...

But let me just address one of the greatest fallacies promoted by some conservatives [most notably Rush Limbaugh] and Mamet in this essay. It is found in this quote:

What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.

The spark for all this kind of thought is here, with the biggest "government hater" of them all, Ronald Reagan.



Of course, this sort of government-hating conservative have the added benefit of doing everything they can to circumvent and undermine the success of governmental programs and then claim that they are shocked, SHOCKED that that that program is flawed or unpopular.

Here is a list of successful government programs that would have been impossible to have done with the "our own capacity of self-government."

1. Let's just take for granted that a national military is a good governmental program. I don't think the Alabama Air Force would have lasted very long against the Luftwaffe. Do I need to mention the Civil War...talk about federal government haters.

2. Federal-Aid Highway Act 0f 1956: I am sure Mamet drives on a highway, well thank the federal government for that.

3. Social Security, Medicare, & Medicaid: Call them entitlements but each program has helped millions of people...and as they move toward insolvency [thank your grandparents for having too many kids!] it must be remembered the plans improved the health of the elderly and the poor significantly.

4. The National School Lunch Program: cheaper school lunch for poor kids.

5. The Clean Air Act: I don't really want to waste time describing the benefits of the Clean Air Act...instead I urge you to read about Thee Great Smog of 1952 that hit London and killed over 4,000 people and started the modern environmental movement in England.

6. The FBI -- as well as investigating the X-files, the bureau also hunts down domestic terrorists, pedophiles, and some bad, bad people.

Here is one from my area of study, Health Care:

7. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Originally intended to allow you to transfer your health insurance history to another employer if you switch jobs, it has become famous as the federal law that attempts to protect your medical information.

8. Sherman Anti-trust Act/Clayton Act/FTC Act: Started by conservative hero Teddy Roosevelt.

I am getting bored with this...it is almost too easy. As I think about this more, it seems to me that as David Mamet looks around the world and can't find the good things the government has done, he must be not really trying.

And really the opposite argument starts to make the case doesn't it?...the absence of federal governmental involvement often leads to the worst possible scenario:

1. Hurricane Katrina evacuation
2. Lack of oversight in mortgage home lending
3. The Savings & Loan crisis of the 1980s.
4. Lack of a federal response to AIDS.
5. Reconstruction following the Civil War

Your Must Read Link of the Day

This essay encapsulates why I am a conservative. It also has the benefit of being written not by Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh, but by David Mamet. He writes statements that I have always believed in, but have never been able to put into words, making me very jealous. Some favorite graphs:

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.

Or this one:

What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.

But if the government is not to intervene, how will we, mere human beings, work it all out?

I wondered and read, and it occurred to me that I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to. How do I know? From experience.

Regardless of political persuasion, this is a must-read essay.

The Endgame?

This post is just me thinking out loud. The Democrats are going to nominate someone for president in 2008. But how does that endgame come about?

The math is still simple -- the winner needs a majority out of the 4,048 delegates. But most observers believe that, absent unusual circumstances, neither candidate will have a majority. This post shows a good example.

There are two circumstances that will determine the nominee: Florida/Michigan and John Edwards.

Florida/Michigan: Hillary easily won both states because Obama/Edwards failed to campaign in either state and weren't even on the ballot in Michigan. There are 367 delegates that will not be seated and there are calls for revotes.

If Michigan wanted to be Machiavellian, it would not hold a revote under any circumstances. If the nominee has been decided by the convention, their delegates will be seated as a matter of course. But lets say the following occurs: the Michigan results stand and the delegation is seated. Now there are 55 delegates in the mix who are officially uncommitted. As a bloc, those delegates are twice as large as Edwards' group. Michigan would be the subject of the most intense convention campaigning since Pennsylvania in 1976.*

* This is a Pozterisk. Enjoy. In 1976, Reagan offered the vice-presidency to Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker. It was a bold and gutsy move, but backfired because it alienated Jesse Helms, a Reagan supporter, and it failed to have its intended effect. Reagan made Schweiker his running mate in order to break the PA delegation in his favor, but he made the mistake of announcing the move three weeks prior to the convention in Kansas City. James Baker, the head of the Ford campaign, used that time to work the PA delegation. Suddenly, obscure precinct committeemen, who barely rated a form letter, were being invited to the White House. Had Ford beaten Carter, there is little doubt that PA would have made off like a bandit in Ford's first budget. We can only imagine the promises that Hillary would make to those 55 delegates -- federal pork would quickly replace auto manufacturing as Michigan's chief industry. And Obama would be forced to decide if he was willing to play the same game.

Edwards: His decision will not be as important as what happens with Florida/Michigan, but has the potential to be decisive.

While Blugold Matt may not look to Edwards for guidance, his delegates likely will. While his endorsement has a decreasing ability to affect the popular votes -- most Dem voters have probably forgotten that he exists and are firmly in the Obama or Hillary camps -- his delegates take on increasing importance as the race goes down to the wire. If those 26 delegates are all that stand between either candidate getting the nomination, Edwards becomes the super of all the superdelegates. His delegates are going to feel loyalty to him and will likely vote according to his endorsement.

Best case scenario: The fate of the Michigan and Florida primaries are decided in the next several weeks in a process that satisfies both candidates and the DNC and the results are known well in advance of the convention. The nominee is known in advance of a peaceful convention.

Worst case scenario: After the Montana/South Dakota primaries on June 3, the nominee is still not known. Both campaigns are unable to agree on a revote for MI and FL and Obama refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the results and will not support any effort to recognize either state's delegation. The political wires from June until late August are filled with the Obama and Clinton campaigns feuding about MI/FL with the rhetoric becoming increasingly heated while McCain uses this time to fundraise and quietly campaign. The delegates are eventually seated after a nasty floor fight -- broadcast live on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and PBS. Even after those delegates are added, there is still no nominee. The convention is pure chaos compared to the GOP a week later. Selecting a keynote speaker becomes a major hassle as neither campaign wants to have the spotlight shining so brightly on a speaker who publicly supports the other. Edwards becomes the kingmaker and the media hounds him with a paparazzi-like intensity that would make Britney Spears jealous. Rumors abound of what Edwards is demanding -- everything ranging from becoming a vice-president with Cheney-like powers to Attorney General to outlandishly demanding the top spot on the ticket -- and rumors of another Corrupt Bargain abound.The nominee finally wins over Edwards support, but is weakened by the months of negative campaigning and the public's distaste for Edwards serving as the super-duper-delegate and McCain leaves the Twin Cities with a 8-to-10 point lead in the polls.

Florida/Michigan and Edwards will almost certainly choose the Democratic nominee. The only issue is how quickly Howard Dean can get the first one resolved. There aren't a ton of good options for the DNC head, but he has limited power. His power comes from his grassroots and not the back room wheelers and dealers. So Dean has little ability to come up with a solution and strong-arm the campaigns into going along. Until he finds a way to do that, the worst case scenario might be his legacy.

I Wish I Had Thought Of That

This is the kind of comeback you only think of after the argument is over...:

“They have been spending the last two or three weeks” arguing that he is not ready to be commander in chief, Obama said.

“I don’t understand. If I am not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?” Obama asked the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation during his defense. “I don’t understand.”

“You can’t say he is not ready on day one, then you want him to be your vice president,” Obama continued. “I just want everybody to absolutely clear: I am not running for vice president. I am running to be president of the United States of America.”

Hot Chip -- Ready for the Floor (Smoothed Out On An R'n'B Tip Version)
From the Ready for the Floor EP.

The Twilight Singers -- I'm Ready
From the album Powder Burns.

Practice

Crystal Castles -- Alice Practice
From the Crimewave single.

I Like Ivar's...and Iver

Bon Iver -- Team

Bon Iver -- Lump Sum
Both tracks are from For Emma, Forever Ago.

Nathan Fielder

For people who live along the US/Canadian border you may be familiar with the Canadian Broadcasting Company's show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It is essentially the Canadian Daily Show but mainly the jokes are "Bush is dumb!" or "Hillary wears pants suits!" Hidden in this mediocre show is a comedy treasure called Nathan Fielder. He is a corespondent of some kind that has a segment called "On Your Side" in which he tries to give you helpful tips. Here are two of my favorite segments, one on sex in advertising and one on lying. Give this man his own show in America now!






Pete Yorn -- On Your Side
From the album Musicforthemorningafter.

Pete Yorn -- On Your Side (Live at The Roxy)
From the Live at the Roxy EP.

Pete Yorn -- On Your Side (Live in New Jersey)
From the double live album Live from New Jersey.

Closely Watched

Today in Illinois they had a special election for former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert's seat in the House that he had held since 1987...and wouldn't you know it, a Democrat won.

Democrat Bill Foster has snatched former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election that gave the longtime Republican district to the Democrats.

Foster has won 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Republican Jim Oberweis with 556 of 568 precincts reporting.

Foster's special election win means he will fill the remainder of Hastert's term until it ends next January.

I irritates me when people say it is a "closely watched" election as if any larger truths can be divined from it. Especially since the winner gets the seat until only January and Hastert quit under rather odd circumstances.

Hot Chip -- My Brother Is Watching Me
From the Ready for the Floor EP.

LCD Soundsystem -- Watch the Tapes
From the Sound of Silver album.

Don't Mess With Texas

Q: Who won the Texas primary on Tuesday, Obama or Clinton?

A: The Wall Street Journal has an interesting answer for that:

The Obama campaign said Sen. Obama emerged from Texas's unique primary-and-caucus system with at least five more delegates than Sen. Clinton, even though she won the popular vote. That anomaly reflects the party's rules for allocating delegates proportionate to the candidates' votes in certain districts.

The Killers -- Why Do I Keep Counting?
From the Sam's Town album.

Mascots

CS & I both went to the same undergraduate institution, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a university that does not have an official mascot. Instead, they have combined the school colors, blue and gold, into one world, Blugold, and then called it a day. There is no physical representation for this fusion of color but my alma mater's Student Senate is on the case.

Interesting quote from the article:

According to a May 2007 article in The Spectator, the university created a mascot committee in 1965, asking faculty and students to give their input on what a Blugold should be.

Five finalists, including Blugold Beaver, the Norse God Odin, Blugold Eagle, Golden Eagle and the Eau Claire Riverman, were named, and students and faculty voted to pick one or keep the Blugold ambiguous, according to the article. No record of the vote can be found.

Now, out here in Seattle, the term "Riverman" means something unique. It is a nickname given to the Green River serial killer that was made famous by this book:

I have enjoyed my share of books about serial killers but this one is the best...just a hair better than the other Ted Bundy biography The Stranger Beside Me written by Ann Rule, the famous true-crime author, who actually worked with Bundy at a suicide hot line during the middle of his killing spree in the Seattle area.

Nick Drake -- River Man
From the greatest hits collection Way To Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake.

Nick Drake -- River Man (Demo)
This is from the demo collection Made to Love Magic.

M. Ward -- Green River (Creedence Clearwater Revival Cover)
From the Green River single.

Goodbye

Overall, I think I am taking the news that Brett Favre is retiring a lot better than I took our NFC championship loss to the Giants. I am excited to see what an entire season of an Aaron Rodgers-led Packers team would look like and although I am excited, it is a good thing for Mike McCarthy that he got his contract extension this year rather than next because it might not be so pretty next year.

Supertramp -- Goodbye Stranger
From the Magnolia soundtrack.

The Moldy Peaches -- Goodbye Song
From their self-titled debut.

Peter Bjorn and John -- Goodbye, Again Or
From the Falling Out album.

Engineers -- How Do You Say Goodbye?
From their first full-lenght album Engineers.

Darnells -- Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much In Love to Say Goodbye
From a collection of Phil Spector produced songs called Phil's Spectre: A Wall of Soundalikes.

Hollywood Fever

Question: Who is this quote describing?:

"He doesn't want to be our congressman anymore. It's clear he's left the building. The guy's got Hollywood fever, and that would be fine if he was using his national stature to actually get things done."

That is a quote from Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, describing Dennis Kuchinich who is having some trouble holding on to his seat in Congress. Cimperman is running against everyone's favorite peacenik in the Democratic primary...and he is actually doing pretty well.

The Flaming Lips -- You Got To Hold On
From the W.A.N.D. single.

Hot Chip -- Hold On
From the Made in the Dark album.

Les Savy Fav -- Hold On To Your Genre
From the Inches album.

Jet -- Hold On
From the Spider-man 2 soundtrack.

Sam & Dave -- Hold On! I'm Comin'
From the Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration collection.

Sarah McLachlan -- Hold On
From the Hold On single.

Magnet -- Hold On
From The Tourniquet album.

Guided By Voices -- Hold on Hope (Live)
From a CD called The XFM Live Sessions from the great [but now defunct] British music magazine Select.

The Zombies -- You've Really Got A Hold On Me
From the Zombies collection Best of the 60's.

A Completely Self-Serving Post

What fun is it to have a blog if you can't help yourself? I just wanted to say that I am selling a big lot of CDs on eBay that you might be interested in...

Bloc Party -- Selfish Son
From the I Still Remember single.

Ben Folds Five -- Selfless, Cold, and Composed
From the Whatever and Ever Amen album.

Vampire Weekend -- I Stand Corrected
From the Vampire Weekend album.