Randomness Pt. 2

So after running my last post I felt like it was somewhat lackluster, and realized that two of my most important things got forgotten, and in my effort to put as many things as I thought were supposed to be there I added things in, and then just forgot. So here's take two. The other post is below.

• Pitchfork reported an interesting incident over at Best Buy. Something I've learned through this article is that record labels will pay some decent cash to have their CD's placed on the end aisles of stores so as to more easily catch the eye of passing customers. Best Buy got a deal going with a few independent labels, and then had a sale on "left of the dial indie heroes" which included the likes of Cat Power, Antony and the Johnsons and Arcade Fire (among many other). The real surprise to the story is that they charged only $7.99 for these CDs, well below the cost they paid for them. This is a common practice in retail, but it's kind of a slap in the face to smaller, locally owned record stores that really can't compete with those prices. There's too much of this story to go into here, and rather than regurgitate the whole thing, I'll direct you straight to the article. Now purchasing CDs for me is a rare occasion right now, because I'm in school but this really emphasizes the importance of supporting small businesses and the artists. It also helps to buy direct from the artists at their websites and even better, at shows. That said, I can't really blame anyone for wanting to save some cash. It's a tough call, but I really like the smaller shops, so I'd hate to see them go away.


• I Guess I'm Floating has become a regular pit stop for me in this great wide internet. And earlier this week they put up this fantastic post. I'll let our floaty friends tell the whole story to you direct, but I'll just say it involved The Flaming Lips, Blues Clues (the kids show popular from almost 10 years ago now) and a serious career shift. Which is amusing to see the Lips involved with things like this, given the rumors some time back that they would provide the soundtrack for a Harold and the Purple Crayon film adaptation.


• And for my own interest, I hopped on by to Final Fantasy's website and discovered this little statement about the name.
  
  

  Final Fantasy--the band--is named in humble tribute to Final Fantasy--the game. Lawsuits have not yet arisen, but when they do, you'll be the first to know. Final Fantasy, to us, is a great amalgam of capitalism, swords, melodrama and Japan.

  
  
  Furthermore the website has this to say:
  
  

  "Final Fantasy" is far more suitable than "Owen Pallett" because 'Owen Pallett' is a Welsh-y name that suggests leeks, projects and "I'm the only gay in Aberfynn-Weldy." So Final Fantasy it is.

  
  
  Owen... let's have a sit down talk here. I dig your music man. It took me a while to come to that conclusion, but I did finally come around didn't I? Now, let's be clear, the meaning suggested by the name "Final Fantasy" I must say has far more negative implications than those you listed for the name "Owen Pallett." I would far prefer thinking of leeks and gay men in Aberfynn-Weldy when listening to your music than I would a video game, but hey, that's just me. The fact is, when I think of a band called "Final Fantasy" the sound that enters my head is more suitable for a Dance Dance Revolution console.

Randomness

So, it's been a while since I've posted, and you might have noticed that I haven't put up a setlist in quite some time. The reason for this is that my last show (on the 16th) was done in a very tired and cranky sort of way. I've been insanely busy, and it's affected my early morning DJ gig. It actually makes me sit down and think about how long I can keep this up. But that's another story. This last week, the craziest of all weeks, I called up fellow DJ Jim (who normally spins right after I do at 6 a.m. on Fridays, and who always puts together a great set) to fill in. First let me say, all hail Jim for helping me out this week! I could not have maintained my sanity (or my general being-awakeness) without his help!

So that's two weeks with no setlist, and a number of things have cropped up, so I thought I'd just do a quick post highlighting some interesting things that have been happening in my absence of post:

• First, if you haven't noticed, I've added a feature to this page: a random fact from our friends at Gullible Info. Gullible is a great site that provides five completely true facts every day. The website is for real so. The link works I'm not tricking you. Well, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to create a random fact generator for people to put on their blogs and websites. If you're interested in adding a random fact generator to your blog click here!. If you've never heard of Gullible, hop on by to see what crazy brilliant facts and trivia bits they've come up with. Just this week they posted a history of the Holy Grail that's really worth your time.


• I Guess I'm Floating posted some new Flaming Lips tracks from their forthcoming album At War With The Mystics. Each track for me has moments that get me a little excited, and moments that make me slightly wary. It's no news to me that the Lips are a bunch of freakin' hippies (nothin' wrong with that!) but the "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" might be just a little bit over the top lyrically speaking. If you gave a gander at their "Bohemian Rhapsody" cover, that'll give you a pretty good idea as to what their new stuff sounds like.


• Speaking of I Guess I'm Floating they posted a track just this week from Final Fantasy. It's a cover of a song by Joanna Newsome, and marks the end of the conflict that FF and I have had for some time now. Previously I had beef with the dude for running around fronting on my man Andrew Bird's musical stylings. This track has proven that FF (look man, I just can't write those two words that often... we can have peace, but get a new name will ya?) is pretty durned compelling. I should note how reasonable and flexible I was with this peace treaty, given that FF refused to sign my "I'll Never Be As Cool As Andrew Bird" contract. But here at Discord/Harmony we like to focus on the harmony... You can listen to the track here


• Bubba over at Watch Out For Snakes ran a nice series of posts this last month on his favorite albums from high school. I've considered following suit, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a list that is both representitive, truthful and not completely embarassing. I think what I may do is put together a list of albums from college that changed my life and subsequently influenced all musical interests to follow. Anyway, hop over to Bubba's place and check out what he's been up to. But don't expect any kind words about Petra Haden or any of her family over there. Seething hatred I tell you... seething hatred.


• On the blog front, U.N. Spacy has had a fantastic run of posts lately. Oh wait. Typo. I meant to write, "U.N. Spacy hasn't posted anything in for freaking ever." It's just a few keystrokes different between those two sentences. Jack McKinney blames this on pending nuptuals, but anyone that's met the dude knows that no woman would be fool enough to marry him anyway. After all, who could compare to LiLo in Jack's eyes? So I'm guessing that he's spending most of his time posing as a Salvation Army bell-ringer and using the money on strip clubs and shady back alley dealings.


• And finally... coming up in the future I'm hoping to do yet another One Band / One Hour show, this time featuring Petra Haden's harmony-singin', violin-fiddlin' and classic song-coverin' stylings. I really owe my rekindled love of Petra Haden to Bubba over at Watch Out For Snakes. I've been listening to my old that dog. albums quite frequently as of late and it's brought me happiness and joy like few other things can. Those Haden sisters know how to slap together some great music.


• Posts for the next couple weeks may be fairly scattered. I like to keep things rolling, and keep writing as much as I can, but I've got two big projects coming up. If you hear about a madman in Eugene that finally lost it and goes on a drunken rampage through the town muttering "starke and finke... mumble mumble... feldman... harrisburg... mumble... presentation... mumblegrumble... population growth..." it means I've finally gone off the deep end.

KWVA Valentine Spectacular!

Many apologies for my tardiness of playlist posting this week folks. Friday's show is posted just below this one. I have no reasonable excuse other than classes and general buzyness. I'm halfway through a term in which my main work is focused around to term papers. I have little homework, but two big assignments taking up a lot of my time. Since I'm a horrible procrastonater and I just entered the second half of the quarter, I'm now letting these papers consume my life and trying to make up for my previous laziness.

So this show was just a mix of some of my very favorite love songs and others that just seemed to fit pretty well. I made the mistake of only bringing CD's and not my computer, so when I was halfway through the show and realizing I didn't bring enough music I was kind of scrambling, but fortunately the station had everything else I was looking for.

I apologize for the randomness of the tracks. I bumped the mouse, so the first part is like 2 minutes. The last section I forgot to break up, so it's a full hour. But Megan says it's my best show. So y'all best listen and appreciate! You don't want to make a liar out of Megan do you? Here's the show in 4 parts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


Lucinda Williams - Passionate Kisses
Wilco - I'm The Man Who Loves You
The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
Magnetic Fields - I'm Sorry That I Love You
Ani Difranco - Both Hands
Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
REM - At My Most Beautiful
Beach Boys - Forever
Burt Bacharach - Trains and Boats and Planes
The Roots - You Got Me (alternate version feat. Jill Scott and Eve)
Sleater-Kinney - Leave You Behind
Rufus Wainwright - 14th Street
Rolling Stones - Wild Horses
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Rock of Gilbraltar
Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need A New Heart
Beatles - Two of Us
Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Neko Case and Her Boyfriends - No Need To Cry
Beck - I Guess I'm Doing Fine
Antony and the Johnsons - Fistful of Love
Ewan McGregor - Your Song
Cat Power - Good Woman
Johnny Cash - Give My Love To Rose
Futureheads - Hounds of Love
Beach Boys - Disney Girls
Petra Haden and Bill Frisell - I Believe
Magnetic Fields - Book of Love

Highlights: Although this set was all personal favorites of mine, there were a few highlights of note. To begin with, let me say that I will never again play Cat Power's "Good Woman" followed by Johnny Cash's "Give My Love To Rose." I joked about it on the air, but really and truly, that was depressing. When I picked them out I thought "Brilliant! Saddest music in the world. Won't by a dry eye in Eugene (and the web)." But when I listened to them I was just... sad... So listen with caution friends. Those two songs side by side are not for the faint of heart.

A'ight. Down to brass tacks:

Cat Power's "Good Woman" is one of my favorite songs of hers, off of an album that lacked a little bit, but this song really makes up for it all. There's some young sounding voices in the background, but the male voice is none other than Eddie Veddor. Go figure huh? But still, his addition just wrenches you at the end of the song. When Cat Power sings "That is why I am lying when I say..." and he comes in with "I don't love you" almost as if the "you" in the song is predicting what Chan Marshall is going to say before she says it. This is an amazingly sad song:

Cat Power - Good Woman

Petra Haden is just been on my personal rotation constantly, and this album really brought her back to my attention all over again. The whole album she does with Bill Frisell is just sweet and beautiful Really worth checking out:

Petra Haden and Bill Frisell - I Believe

And this song was Megan and my first dance. It was also the processional for another wedding we attended. It's cute and pretty:

Magnetic Fields - Book of Love

Next Show: This Thursday, 4 am!

KWVA Playlist for Friday, Feb 10, 2006

Ug. Last week I'd mentioned the up days and down days of DJing at 4 in the morning. Today was a down day. I was the epitome of obnoxious college radio. I really try to keep it together, for my own sake as well as yours. You don't want to listen to a fumbling idiot on the air (although, if you're listening to college radio to begin with...) and I'd like to continue this DJ thing after I leave this here station, so I try to take it seriously and provide the best for what few listeners are awake at this time. So it's days like today that I sulk home, crawl into bed and try to pretend it all went perfectly. Unfortunately I've recorded and am here documenting such moments as my going on air and forgetting what I'm playing, forcing me to scramble and search for the CD case.

The thought process went something like this (thoughts in paranthesis) "coming up next is... (crap! I can't remember what I'm playing... I know who she is) um... um... *sound of scrambling for CD's* (arrgh! What the hell is her name? I have her CD's! She's in the New Pornographers! hmmm... maybe I could say that...) um... *complete silence for a moment* Neko Case!"

Later in the show I experimented with a few tracks. I really wanted to hear the new Xiu Xiu, since I know they (he?) are well liked and I've never spun them before. The new Xiu Xiu CD is one of the most beautiful things I've ever held in my hands. I'm not talking about the music, I'm talking about the case and the CD. Beautiful color motif (black and white with orange trimmings here and there) with photos of ballet dancers practicing, and the CD itself is this sparkly gray (not silver so much, more sparkly gray). The music on the other hand will put you to sleep. It's not a complaint, it just was a huge contrast against the rest of my set. So I threw on Bonnie "Prince" Billy, because his new CD with Tortoise has been a winner. That ended up being a kind of strange sounding track which only aggravated the situation. So I decided to throw on Jackie-O Motherf**** because last week there was a new album in the new CD's pile but I never got to it. I couldn't find it so I threw down a track from the All Tomorrow's Parties comp. So I'm new to Jackie-O, and it was also not helping the situation. Again, not a complaint about the music, but noise is not what I was looking for.

Then, like a beam of light from the hip-hop shelf: Tommy Boy's hip hop retrospective. What track would save my set? What other track could save my set than "Push It." Like running bleach through the ol' intestinal track, Salt 'N' Peppa wiped out all the bad memories and poor track choices.

On my way out I'd forgotten to grab the files for the show as well... which in all honesty, I saw that as a blessing in the end. I don't want to relive the moments, and I certainly don't want you to suffer through them either. Here's the playlist.

Teenage Fanclub - Cells
The Go Betweens - Born To A Family (Live)
Sexton Blake - Rose Parade
His Name Is Alive - After I Leave You
Sergio Mendes - Mas Que Nada (feat. Black Eyed Peas)
Grayskull - The Spectacular Rescue
The Subways - I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say
The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
Sleater-Kinney - Turn It On
Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
Film School - Harmed
Young and Sexy - Your Enemy's Asleep
Xiu Xiu - Sad Redux-o-grapher
Bonnie "Prince' Billie and Tortoise - Cravo e Canela
Jackie-O Motherf*cker - Drake Hotel
Neko Case - Hold On, Hold On
Cat Power - Living Proof
Morissey - Jack The Ripper (by request)
Beth Orton - Worms
Kelley Stoltz - Ever Thought of Coming Back
Parks and Recreation - What Was She Doing On The Shore That Night?
Salt n Peppa - Push It
Sergio Mendes - Yes Yes Y'all (feat. Black Thought, Chali 2na and a bunch of people not as cool as Black Thought and Chali 2na)
Lady Sovereign - Random
Blackalicious - Powers
Blockhead - Dough Nation
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Kanye West - Gold Digger

Highlights: Despite my miserable performance on this show, there was some pretty good music. To Kelley Stoltz I have only this to say: If you think sounding like the Beach Boys is enough to get yourself some recognition on this blog... well... you'd probably be right... it's still a cheap shot man... like, hittin' a guy where he's weak yo... that's some cold shit.

In all seriousness, I dig Kelley Stoltz. He (they?) sound very Beach Boys/Phil Spector, with a wavery untrained Wayne Coyne-like voice. Not much to complain about there. Check it out:

Kelley Stoltz - Ever Though Of Coming Back

Parks and Recreation also hit the Beach Boy in me. They don't sound so much like the Beach Boys, but I'll admit that I played the CD because the font they used is the same as on Pet Sounds. I'm weak. I know it. But I kind of like this track. I'm not entirely decided on this group, but they definately got my interest. In actuality, they sound more like Belle and Sebastian than anything, which itself is tapping into a lovely 60s sound that I love dearly.

Parks and Recreation - What Was She Doing On The Shore That Night?

I also want to take a moment to recognize Kanye West. Why? Because the Grammy's chose U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb one of their weakest efforst ever over Late Registration. Now I know I myself did not recognize Kanye West on my own top ten, but let's look at who he was up against this year: Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, U2 and Gwen Stefani. That some seriously cold shit. That's why I threw down "Gold Digger" on this show. Because Kanye West has every reason to hate the world right now.

Requests: We had a call in for Morisseys "Jack The Ripper." Woot! Give me a call during the shows, or let me know on the message board if you'd like to hear something on the air. Since I usually post the shows even you online folks can hear it!

Next Show: Since I'm posting this late, my next show is this thursday at 4 am. I'm switching up with another DJ this week. It'll mean I'm better rested on Friday. In a few moments I'll have something up for my Saturday Evening Valentines day show!!!! Woot!

Ah spring... and Iron & Wine...

Today, for the first time this year, the sun shone bright enough that I took off my jacket as I walked home. I wish I could say that I strolled hom with out the heavy (literally) reminder of school sitting on my back and under my arms in the form of a laptop and several books. But I'll welcome the warmer weather any time.

As it gets warmer, I like to crank up the Iron & Wine on my stereo (if crank is in any way an appropriate verb to use with Sam Beam's voice), sit on my balcony and watch the athletic field that serves as my back yard. I enjoy watching the joggers and baseball games and general activity. Even though we're a little early, the weather has prompted a few volleyball players to venture out into the surprisingly warm world of Eugene to come out of their hibernation caves. On Fridays I like to sit with my friends on the balcony and watch the joggers. We dare each other quietly to lean down and ask them why they're out jogging on a Friday night, but we fear that one of them will break down and cry because they have no friends. And that would ruin the warm happy mood set by our good friend Sam Beam on the stereo.

So I'm feeling like sharing my mood a little bit. If it's not sunny where you are, hopefully Iron & Wine can bring a little warmth into the cold. He makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Iron & Wine - Upward Over The Mountain

Iron & Wine - Sodom South Georgia

Also, for those of you who are die-hards of my man Sam(hee hee. I made a rhyme) iTune's has two exclusive EP's worth checking out. One contains four unreleased tracks, the other is a new live session with his sister Sarah, which includes a cover of the New Order song "Love Vigilantes." Go here to check that out.

And for our many readers out there in the European-netiverse, Iron & Wine and Calexico are going on tour! Woot! Read all about it, and Calexico's new album, here! Much of the same information can be found on Iron & Wine's website.

Cat Power truly is the greatest

The Oregon Daily Emerald once again were fools enough to allow me some page space in their newspaper. This week they ran a review I wrote for Cat Power's new album The Greatest.

The Greatest is just that folks. I really dig this music. It's soulful, twangy and smooth. The backing band is perfect for Chan Marshall's songwriting here. As I stated in the review, this might be considered music fit for Starbucks, but I'm not complaining. I like it quite a bit, and if it jettisons Marshall into the world of adult contemporary, so be it. I'll to busy listening to "The Moon" on repeat.

I can't help but grumble a little bit that my article was shortened. It's a fact of life. I wish I'd suggested a different paragraph to cut, but that's the way it goes. I would add here, since it was cut from the article, that I think Marshall using her own voice as background vocals is brilliant. As Marshall sings I can see to mini-Marshall pips swaying in the background. It really creates a beautifully classic sound.

Anyway, the album is great, and it rekindled my love of Chan Marshall's music. After You Are Free I felt a little luke warm towards Cat Power. It was a good album, but not enough to keep me interested. This album completely turned that all around. Here's a few tracks to sample (that's for you ZT!). Definitely worth checking out.

Cat Power - The Moon

Cat Power - After It All

Check it out. If you like it, buy the album. I can't promote this music enough.

KWVA Playlist for Friday, Feb 3, 2006

There are days I leave the station tired, cranky and wondering why I drag myself out of bed at 3:30 in the morning for this junk. Then there are days like today when I get to hear some new great music, I get to talk to some listeners, and I just feel all around great about life. This morning was the latter of those two scenarios. It was just a fun morning to be awake and playing music. I learned this morning that there are people who work that early and listen to the show. I figured my common listener was still awake from the night before and most likely drunk or otherwise stoned. Little did I realize. I misjudged y'all, I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive.

If you missed them, here's the show in for parts. I apologize for the third part, which is excessively long because I didn't cut it off at the appropriate moment. I try to keep these short for easy download.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

And here's the set list. I'm sorry that I can't break down the list by section, because I just don't remember:

Cat Power – After It All
VHS or Beta – You Got Me
Subways – Oh Yeah
Beastie Boys – Funky Boss (by request)
The Clash – Career Opportunity (by request)
Dead Kennedies – Take This Job and Shove It (yeah, this one too)
Lifesavas – Happiness
We Are Scientists – Inaction
Dangerdoom – Old Skool
The Flaming Lips – The Wand
His Name Is Alive – After I Leave You
MIA – Pull Up The People
Petra Haden – God Only Knows
Teenage Fanclub – Save
Cake On Cake – Lonely Song
Devandra Barnhardt – Queen Bee
Minus 5 – Cemetery Row
Aeroplane Pageant – He Is Fire
Tender Forever – Then If I’m Weird I Want To Share
Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes
Supastition – that Ain’t Me
Colossus – You A Grown Man
Belle and Sebastian – Act of the Apostle
Bonnie Prince Billie and Tortoise – Daniel
Laura Cantrell – Letters
Arab Strap – Don't Ask Me To Dance
Catfish Haven – Madelin
Antony - Fistful of Love

Highlights: We had a lot of really great music come through today. I've been sitting on Devandra Barnhardt for a long time and I must confess I'm a big fan. Teenage Fanclub was a pop masterpiece. The Raconteurs is as great as can be expected and Belle and Sebastian was better than I expected. The Lifesavas track "Happiness" is off the tribute albums To: Elliott, From: Portland and I played it out of confusion and fascination. How would Elliott Smith sound, I wondered, covered by a hip hop act? It sounded, I must confess, pretty durn good. Shows me for questioning that. But I draw your attention to two tracks this week.

Cake on Cake is swedish, and until this morning I knew nothing about her. Comparisons to Mirah are entirely appropriate, but she's a little more beat happy than that. But they are both equally expirimental. I haven't digested the entire album yet, but every track I've sampled has been really nice. It's long, trackwise, boasting a full 20 tracks, but hardly any of them reach past two minutes. Give it a listen:

Cake on Cake - Lonely Song

The Flaming Lips. New track. Nuff said? Well, almost enough said. I should comment that I am really excited about the new album after hearing this track. I think they're really moving towards a traditional psychedelic sound. The vocals are layered in a very Queen-esque way (which is no surprise since they just covered "Bohemian Rhapsody." The leading guitar has almost a Kinks quality to it. I'm really impressed that they're keeping things fresh and interesting album by album. At no point do I feel like they're just regurgitating the same sound of their previous works. It's orchestrated and layered beautifully. Mostly I'm glad it doesn't sound too much like Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. No disrespect to the album, because I really do like it, it's just not the vein I wanted them to follow. I'm not sure how the rest of the album will proceed, but the layering is a really interesting way to present Wayne Coyne's vocals. A lot of people are turned off by the Coyne's voice, and that's really not noticable here. I personally like Coyne's voice, but that's just me.

The Flaming Lips - The Wand

Requests: I received without a doubt, the best request I have ever received in my life. A listener here in Eugene suffers from a horrible boss. He wanted to hear some music to reflect the awfullness (yeah it's a word... lemme alone!) of his boss. That was such a great request I granted it three times over, with the row of songs about bad work from The Beastie Boys, The Clash and The Dead Kennedies. I also, upon the recommendation of Daniel from Tennessee, gave Catfish Haven a second chance. This new track grabbed me more and compelled me to listen further to the rest of the EP. I still need to listen to the entire thing, but I'm definately more interested now. It's good to open up the mind and give things another listen.

Next Show: Next Friday at 4 in the morning. The next day, Saturday Feb. 11 I'll be filling in for an absent DJ from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Can I tell you how excited I am to do something for an audience that is a little more awake? Good times. Somewhere down the line, in February I'm going to do a One Band / One Hour for Petra Haden. Woot! Details will appear as they are solidified.

50th Post!

I tried to post this yesterday, but thought I'd miscounted. I've re-re-re-recounted and this is for SURE the 50th post. It was confusing because I've got a few posts that haven't been posted. So there's still a chance this is only the 49th post, but I figure, either way, later today when I post the playlist, THAT will be the 50th post. Yay 50! WOOT!

It's interesting because in the last several weeks I realized just how far I've strayed from what this blog was built for. Originally I saw it as a sort of soapbox for opinions on politics, religion and spirituality, which are frequently on my mind. Back yonder, Jack McKinney suggested I post the playlist for my radio show online. At that point it all started to drift. One day I became quite tired of trying to think of something interesting to say about religion and politics and I spent a couple weeks just writing about music I really liked. Well, I took off down that road so far that I've since abandoned my humble beginnings. I'm still thinking about what to do with this, as interesting things have entered my mind, so I've considered starting another blog, or mixing up formats. I'm still undecided, and I don't care to admit how much thought I've actually put into this. I'm in school and should focus on other things. Anyway, today I thought I'd just share a number of recent musical discoveries, and some other interesting tidbits. The playlist and show will pop up later this afternoon. I've only just woken up today.

• Seattle's got a new band on the country scene, featuring musicians who's past is a little less twangy. Ghosts I've Met consists of Seattle-area musicians who have worked with Modest Mouse and Quasi, among many others. I really like their sound a lot and I'm hoping to catch them live at some point in the near future. You can hear two tracks on their website


• Jack White and Brendan Benson formed the Raconteurs and released a new single. Their website is quite clever, if not a little cheeky. You can listen to two songs there as well.


• As I've taversed this great web of ours I've learned of many a musical community hanging about. One did me a great favor, by providing some out of print music for me. Rhapsodical is an online group that talks about and shares music. I've been poking around there lately to get an idea. There's mp3s, there's votes, there's discussion and online merriment! What more could you want?


• Also worth noting, I've recently come across two new music blogs that have provided me with some great music. I Guess I'm Floating and Watch Out For Snakes are both worth checking out. Watch Out For Snakes is where I became aware of yesterdays Petra Haden goodness.


• Every so often I do a show on KWVA called One Band / One Hour. The title should be sufficient explanation. In the past I've played Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine and The Beach Boys (1967-1974). I had indicated that I might do a vote of some kind to decide what my next show would be, because I was indecicive. Well, erm... I changed my mind. It's going to be Petra Haden. Obviously yesterday's events played a large role in this, and again thanks to our friends at Rhapsodical and Watch Out For Snakes for their lovely contributions. Sorry Jack. No Masonna for you. Actually, let's be absolutely clear. There will doubtful ever be a Masonna hour. It's just not my bag man.


• A little secret some of you that I have only met online may not know. My secret identity is that of a journalism student at the University of Oregon. I intern at The Tri-County News, a rural newspaper north of Eugene. It's a lot more interesting than it really sounds. The other night, I am told, the local news station ran a story about some legal issues surrounding a poker tournament at a tavern outside of Monroe. I am told by one of the staff at the paper, though I cannot confirm this directly myself, that the news story essentially read my story word for word on the air coupled with some footage they took. I'm not really sure whether to be offended or flattered. For the moment I think it was pretty unethical of them, but I think it was kind of cool to be plagiarized. Another local paper, which is much larger, is also covering the story. It's nice to see those stories, because the writer from that paper has a different style altogether, so we're really writing very different stories despite them being the same topic.