So, I got my first Message From The Ipod today. Listening on shuffle, last night I heard "All You Need is Hate" by the Delgados (thanks, erinaceous!). So I was full of hate at work all day and had the song still in my head, and then I heard it again on the way home! It must be true that all I need is hate.

Awesome comic artwork of musicians engaged in everyday activities: [link]

Julian Cope's wife Dorian explains why the MC5 are so awesome.

Julian = lucky bastard.

Look! It's my rock band playing Rock Band!

We were surprisingly good at it! Playing at the Easy level anyway. I got 100% on "Ever Fallen in Love with Someone" and we all rocked "Sabotage."

But did you do Sabatoge ala Edith Bunker, like Conan O'Brien??

But did you do Sabatoge ala Edith Bunker, like Conan O'Brien??

Hah! No, but we talked about that.

thought this might be of interest to Chicagoistas:

SONG-POEMS WANTED ­ THE MUSICAL

Original Music by Arthur Kaufman
Original Lyrics by Helen Bates & Larry Carpenter
Book by Larry Carpenter

Theatre Building Chicago
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Tues., Feb. 19th, 7 pm
1225 W. Belmont
Chicago, IL

Admission is FREE to the first 100 who RSVP: songpoems@kitcarp.com

What the $#*% is a Song-Poem? Promoted through ads with headlines reading "Send in Your Poems - Make Millions ­ Be Famous," Song-Poems are the vanity publishing side of the music recording industry. People who send in their poetry receive notice that their work is worthy of recording­ in exchange for the poet sending in a fee. They send the money ­ hoping! In producing the songs, musicians record dozens of songs per recording session, most in one take.

SONG-POEMS WANTED! THE MUSICAL, features dozens of actual song poems (such as Blind Man's Penis and Aliens Stole My Dog) and it tells the stories of a song-poem composer and the everyday people who submit their poetry for "consideration." Be one of the first to see this exciting show!

That sounds fun!

ION, anyone heard the latest from the Marseille Figs? I'm gonna be lazy and cut and paste this description from Boing Boing:

Yesterday, I picked up "The Dirty Canon," Marseille Figs's first album on the advice of a friend. I've barely listened to anything since. My pal called them a "three piece big band" who trade instruments around a lot and change up on every track. That's a great explanation -- they sound like a cross between Violent Femmes and Tom Waits, with some Squirrel Nut Zippers and even a little Louis Jordan tossed in for good measure, a rich stew of every music style overlaid with funny and soulful lyrics. Mostly uptempo, it put me in an instant good mood. What's more, it's just plain lovely -- there's a current of something delicate and wistful swirling through all twelve tracks. Check out the free downloads on the site and see what you think.

From their webiste:

The Dirty Canon is the Figs' first full length album, featuring 12 new songs. Produced in Hamburg by polymath artist and Pogues-founder Jem Finer and Louisiana swamp-pop legend DM Bob, and finished in London with Brian O'Shaughnessy (of Screamadelica fame), The Dirty Canon has big booming piledrivers, lost soul singalongs, flophouse ballads, epic screeching skronking songs, monkey grunts, thunder and lightning.

At their website you can listen/download three tracks for free. Available on iTunes and eMusic (but I'm out of eMusic downloads at the moment, so I've only listened to the three free tracks. Which are awesome.)

R.I.P. Dave Day of the Monks [link]

One of my fondest musical memories is seeing them in NYC in 1999, where they performed together for the first time in over 30 years. The energy was unbelievable.

R.I.P Fiery Furnaces' Grandma: [link]