Probably the same person who sold Royal Carribean on "Lust For Life."

"Here comes Johnny Yin again / with his liquor and drugs / and his shuffleboard..."

Speaking of Cake, this was forwarded to me:

Greetings CAKE Listener,

Over the years we at CAKE have received in the mail some very interesting recordings of our songs, performed by musicians from myriad corners of the globe, walks of life, and aesthetic orientations. Because some of these renditions were unrelentingly strange and/or excellent, we have decided to put together a CD collection of our favorites. We currently still have room in this collection for a few more songs, so if you or someone you know does an interesting CAKE cover, by all means send us a copy of it ASAP. If it is strange and/or excellent enough it may end up on the album. Send all nonreturnable CD recordings to: Esther Creative Group, 59 West 19th Street, Suite 4B, New York, NY 10011.

So they are releasing their own tribute CD. huh.

I know a lot of them, but my favorites are called old-school now. Me and Derek Strange. Except for the Western soundtracks. Don't think I'll ever get that.

Ramones - "Indian Giver"

Please tell me this isn't a cover of the 1910 Fruitgum Co. song. Because I can't wrap my mind around that concept.

Please tell me this isn't a cover of the 1910 Fruitgum Co. song. Because I can't wrap my mind around that concept.

C'mon, Fred! The Ramones are huge bubblegum fans. Though I always thought "Quick Joey Small" was the perfect Ramones bubblegum cover.

The Talking Heads used to cover "1, 2, 3 Red Light."

Please tell me this isn't a cover of the 1910 Fruitgum Co. song. Because I can't wrap my mind around that concept.

It rocks.

You didn't read the bubblegum book, Fred? You've just outed yourself.

Oh, in relatively huge genre-busting news, "Deadwood" is on my watch list now. I thought you'd wanna know that.

It's a goddamn burst of brilliance. I voted for Ian McShane as Swearingen over McNulty on that Salon TV poll. What can I say? McNulty's a great character, but his greatness is contingent on his ease of being passed over in favor of the Best Supporting Cast On TV. McShane as Swearingen is a force of nature, impossible to ignore, as compelling a fictional character as MacBeth with as amazing a synthesis of actor and character as Welles playing Hank Quinlan.

More iPoddy goodness:

• Kathy McCarty - "Rocket Ship"
• Our Unfinished Project - "Lovebirds" (n.b. this is actually a song from an unfinished album I started last year)
• Yo La Tengo - "You Tore Me Down"
• Yo La Tengo - "Here Comes My Baby" (one of my wife's all-time favorite songs, next to The Sonics' "Psycho")
• Shangri-Las - "Sophisticated Boom-Boom"
• Roky Erickson - "You Don't Love Me Yet"
• Big Mama Thorton - "Hound Dog"
• King Crimson - "The Court of the Crimson King"
• The Cramps - "TV Set"
• Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On"
• The Observers - "Dubbing with the Observer"

Yo La Tengo - "Here Comes My Baby" (one of my wife's all-time favorite songs, next to The Sonics' "Psycho")

There was an article on the Sonics in one of the Seattle papers about a month ago. Or maybe not; I can't find them anywhere in the papers' online archives. But it talked about what happened to the band. All of them ended up walking away from music, IIRC.

All of them ended up walking away from music, IIRC.

Probably smart. Once you've achieved perfection (and, of course, I speak of "The Village Idiot"), walking away is the best thing you can do.

Hey, on a completely different level, I just realized that there's a possibility that you are Susan W's husband. If so, we have actually met each other in real life. Is this the case?

C'mon, Fred! The Ramones are huge bubblegum fans. Though I always thought "Quick Joey Small" was the perfect Ramones bubblegum cover.

"Quick Joey Small" would work better with basic guitar.

It's more that I can't see some songs working in certain genres. Like a country version of "Night Fever" (though "Stayin' Alive" might work).