The End of the World Soundtracked By Pink Floyd

Eartha Kitt R.I.P.

Although best know for her role as Catwoman on the TV show Batman Eartha was also a singer and cabaret star. Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world".

Happy Holidays

To get into the spirit here is Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Coldplay performing Jingle Bells.

Christmas With A Capitol "C"

Seriously what is with this bullshit notion that there is a war on Christmas? Guess what some people celebrate different holidays than you, deal with it. This is the anthem for the fighter of the war on Christmas Go Fish (lame ass name) and their Christian radio hit Christmas with a Capitol C. Yawn...............

The Hunt For The Worst Album Cover Ever

Cher - Take Me Home



Cher's pleas for Dungeon and Dragons fans to take her home were not lost on the perpetually woman-less geeks.

Working On A Dream

Bruce Springsteen (aka: The Boss, Obama's BFF) will be releasing a new album next month just 15 months after his last record. This a record pace for Spingsteen. One motivating factor was the inspiration he felt after writing a song call "Love in the Time of Bush". And you thought Love in the time of Cholera was rough.

All The Pretty Little Horses

I've been reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian lately and in my head playing a soundtrack to go along with the book. Of course this would include Calexico, Friends of Dean Martinez and Nick Caves soundtrack work. This haunting version All The Pretty Little Horses would be the first track.

Dock Ellis R.I.P.

This past friday Baseball legend Dock Ellis pass away. Ellis played for the Pirates and claims to have pitched a no hitter on LSD.

The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog

Speaking of creative videos:


The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog from Eric Power on Vimeo.

New Ladyhawke Video - My Delirium

We live in an era where there is little point in putting a lot of time or money into a music video since it will only be seen in a tiny box on Youtube. That makes it such a treat to see a video like this one for Ladyhawke where much time and creativity were put into it.

The Sex Pistols, Glen Matlock and What Could Have Been

Glen Matlock was the original bass player for the Sex Pistols and the bands primary song writer. The reason Glen was kicked out of the band depends on who you ask. Back in the day the Pistols claimed it was because he was too conservative and listened to the Beatles. Glen claims that he quite the band because of all the "bullshit". There was a lot of tension between Glen and vocalist Johnny Rotten but many people believe that this was exacerbated by manager Malcolm McLaren. One thing is for sure Glen Matlock was a shitload more talented than his replacement Sid Vicious. When Sid entered the picture the Pistols stopped writing new material and turned into a freak show. Judging by Matlocks next band Rich Kids and Rotten's P.I.L. these guys still had a lot of creativity and music left in them. This leaves you to wonder what a second Sex Pistols album might have sounded like?

Spike Jonze for Lakai

How I have I not seen this video? This intro must be what it is like skating in Iraq.

Greatest Album Covers

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland



This is the folded out cover for Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. The 60's must have been a great time with beautiful women just hanging out listening to good music.

Classic Graphic

Man I have always loved this Caballero graphic. Steve Caballero was born in the year of the dragon and used it for many of his board graphics. He was an original member of the Bones Brigade and has rode for Powell for his whole career which is almost unheard of for a skater. Cab was also very influential in the skate punk scene playing in bands such as The Faction and Odd Man Out. Now days he still skates but spends a lot of his time painting hot-rods.

Idle Warship

Idle Warship is a new group featuring Talib Kweli, Graph Nobel and RES. This song Black Snake Moan has a cool old school vibe to it.

Idle Warship "Black Snake Moan" from The ICU on Vimeo.

Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains

In 1980 punk rock was on shaky ground. The Sex Pistols had broken up and Sid Vicious had murdered his girlfriend Nancy. The Clash had discovered the sounds coming from Jamaica and were making there best music ever, although not purist punk music. Post Punk bands were making interesting music and New Wave was rearing its head. So of course it was time to make a Punk movie and cash in but The Fabulous Stains could not find distribution and was left to remain a cult classic. It did manage to influence such Riot Girls as Bikini Kill and celebrity fuck up Courtney Love. This movie does a great job of capturing the anger and rebellion that were at the roots of the Punk Movement. This year Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains finally got a DVD release and a chance to influence a new generation of youngsters.

Blood for Oil

I don't really know anything about this artist but I think this piece by Emess titled Dead Soldiers kinda speaks for its self.

Oxford American Music Issue

Oxford American's 10th annual Southern Music issue is out now and includes two Cd's this year. The Cd's cover stars of the past like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis (on the cover), Big Star and Lightnin' Hopkins along with newer artist like Neko Case, R.E.M., and Vic Chesnutt. The best thing about this compilation though is discovering the musicians that never quite made it to the star level in spite of their talents. The variety of music covered shows that Southern Music is more an attitude than any specific sound.

Classic Clip

Nina Simone - Don't You Pay Them No Mind

New Zooey Deschanel's Fictional Synth Pop Band Video - "Sweet Ballad"

This is a video for a fake band featuring indie rock cutie and actress Zooey Deschanel from some Jim Carrey movie that looks just like another Jim Carrey movie.

The Real Political Beatle

In an English magazine this week Paul McCartney claims that it is in fact he and not John Lennon who was the real political member of the Beatles. Most Beatles fans would probably say that Lennon who wrote "Revolution" and "Give Peace A Chance" was the true liberal in the band. Lennon also conducted his "bed in" with wife Yoko to protest the Vietnam War and was a noted enemy of Richard Nixon. Paul however claims that after a meeting with Philosopher Bertrand Russell it was he who talked to John about what a bad war Vietnam was. It seems to me that Paul may have introduced these ideas to John but did not have the same courage and conviction to vocalize these beliefs as John Lennon did. It comes down to the old saying that "actions speak louder than words."

Music To Torture By

Apparently music is being used as a form or torture (or enhanced interrogation if your Bush) at U.S. prisons in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The process involves subjecting a prisoner to extremely loud songs played over and over for hours, days, weeks and even months at a time. This tortures greatest hits consists of songs by Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen (Born In The USA, of course), Eminem, Dr. Dre and cartoon music such as Barney and Sesame Street. Trent Renzor for one is not happy about this. From his blog:

It's difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you've put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture. If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities. Thank God this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration's reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us.

Several artists including Massive Attack and Tom Morrello of Rage Against The Machine have banded together to form the organization Zero dB whose goal is to prevent the use of music as torture.

New Bloc Party Video - One Month Off

Classic Albums Lego(ized)

Man as a kid Lego was my favorite toy. I would spend hours building the ships from cartoons like MASK, G.I. Joe and Robotech. Maybe if I had kept that big bucket of Lego into adulthood I would have done something like this.

Betty Page R.I.P.

The 1950's pinup model passed away in Los Angles today from pneumonia. Betty was 85 years old but most people only know her as a young lady due to her reluctance to be photographed later in life.

Wish List

These Santa Cruz & Puma hi tops are insane. I love the Jim Phillips art!

Free Dubstep Compilation

The folks over at the U.K. label Echodub are giving away free downloads of a 20 song Dubstep sampler that makes for perfect listening on a cold winter night.Check it out at: http://www.echodub.co.uk/

N.A.S.A. Money

This N.A.S.A. album is starting to sound pretty ridicules with all the amazing guests on it. The song "money" features David Byrne, Chuck D., and Sau Jorge not to mention the video art by Shepard Fairey.

Grime Time

At it's best U.K. Grime is a mixture of American Hip Hop, Jamaican Dancehall put together with an English sensibility. Sometimes it work and sometimes it does not. This song and video for Ina Di Ghetto by Wretch 3 shows what happens when it is done right.

Greatest Album Covers

Isaac Hayes - Black Moses

I'm not sure if I would follow Isaac Hayes through the dessert for 40 years. Unless, we were riding in Hayes' custom Cadillac with the audio triple threat of Hot Buttered Soul, the soundtrack to Shaft and Black Moses pumping on the stereo. Black Moses was released by Stax Records in 1971 and made it to #10 on the U.S. charts. Checkout Black Moses in full when the cover is unfolded.

Blur To Reunite!!!

After years of teasing us Blur are doing a concert at Hyde Park next year. How much you wanna bet a Coachella appearance is in the works?

Balloon Mind State

"If stripped of all it's glory, war is nothing but hot air."
-General Eisenhower

New Lilly Allen Cover Art

I like it!

The Hunt For The Worst Album Cover Ever

Ted Nugent is not a man known for subtlety but this album cover is bad even for him. I believe that this is an artists rendering of Nugent's actual tour rider.

Classic Graphic

A lot of skateboarders had reoccurring graphics such as Natas' panther or Hosoi's sun but Clause Grabke is the only one I know of who had a clock. Clause was from Germany and skated for Santa Cruz. During the peak of my love for skateboarding I lived in Germany and Grabke was know the hit up the same skatepark we would have our parents drive us to although I never saw him there.

Classic Clip

This video is great in a couple of ways. First the classic skate footage from the Public Domain video is killer. I Especially like Ray Barbee's tricks, those no-complys make me want to go out and skate even though its 30 degrees outside. Second this song by McRad is one of the greatest Skate Punk tracks of all time. Video production advances be damned this shit is inspiring.

New Lilly Allen

Gone are the ska rhythms of her debut and in its place a more electronic dance feel with some tongue in cheek lyrics.

NY I Love U

Well the Muppet's did take Manhattan as I recall so this video of Kermit singing LCD Sound Systems NY I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down makes sense.

Greatest Album Covers

The debut album by the Washington D.C. hardcore band sports one of my favorite covers of all time. The striking image of the Capital Building being struck by lightening comes across as divine retribution for the lies, corruption and hubris going on within its white walls.

A Message To You

The original lineup of The Specials has regrouped and will be playing a series of shows in the U.K. next year. Here's to hoping that the tour expands to include some U.S. dates as well.

Sloppy Seconds

As if being the worst team in the NHL was not bad enough now the Dallas Stars find themselves without yet another player. Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely for wandering to some reporters why it is that so many of his fellow NHL players are getting with his "sloppy seconds". It is a pretty long list of ex girlfriends and current NHL boyfriends. Calling his exes sloppy seconds was probably classless but an indefinite suspensions seems pretty harsh.

3 Great Beats

Brian Eno once said that there were three great beats in the seventies. There was Clive Stubblefield's (of James Browns band) funky beat. Then there was Klaus Dinger of Neu!'s robotic rythem that went on to be a huge inspiration to electronic music. Finally there was Tony Allen (of Fela's band) and the Afro beat which combined funky and tribal rhythms.

Wish List

This vinyl toy of Miss November 1978 would be perfect for my mantel.

Tis The Season

It's that time of the year where we start to get inundated with a lot of new Christmas and holiday music. The song by Low starts the season off on a bit of a creepy note. The calls of "santa's coming over" seem more like a threat than something to be joyful about.

MGMT/Daft Punk mash up

Just happened to come across this on youtube.

The Gaslight Anthem

Even after reading some positive reviews I was weary of this band due to their connection to the Mall Punk scene. Well there was nothing to fear because they have more in common with Bruce Springsteen, Sun Records and Motown than with poser punk boy bands. Definitely recommended for fans of Social Distortion, Bruce Springsteen and Rockabilly.

Top Albums of 2008