"We May Need Emergency Surgery In The Studio"

Over the past few months I have returned to my first obsessive collection, baseball cards. This sort of thing tends to happen every year around World Series time and I will buy a box or two but this time my interest hasn't faded...I blame this on two things: 1. Laura being out of the country and 2. Shop At Home TV.
Every Saturday night, Shop At Home has their sports collectibles show and often times they have some kind of"amazing" sports card super deal...I have ordered a couple of times but usually I just like to watch...Well, all that is going away on March 7th when my beloved SAH goes off the air...sigh...

Here is Shop at Home's best moment:



And here is a great moment from one of the older card deals they have offered:



That host, Don West, went on to announce wrestling...here is a clip of him reading his lines during a match:



Franz Ferdinand -- Shopping for Blood
This from the Darts of Pleasure EP.

Sparks -- Shopping Mall of Love
This is from The Best of Sparks: Music That You Can Dance To.

2008 Relevant Band #3: The Battle Royale

Don't quote me on this, but I think about two years ago Chuck Klosterman wrote an essay in Spin about how modern rock songs rarely have multiple and distinct sections such as in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Roundabout" by Yes. Two obvious modern exceptions being "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead and "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand.

Another thing that rarely happens in songs is letting the music play for a while before breaking into the lyrics. For a prime example of this check out "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem.

I think of this today as I listen to The Battle Royale. Their song "Racecar" begins with nearly a minute of what could be described as electro music that could be confused for a new song by The Rapture. And, to be honest, it is initially hard to believe that the song "Scream Scream" is by the same band. It has the feel of a darker Polyphonic Spree song not about the freakin' sun or having a great day. The Battle Royale is a band to watch.

The Battle Royale -- Racecar

The Battle Royale -- Scream Scream