Aw, you should have mentioned him anyway. Many of these bands play several times during the festival, what with all the free afternoon shows.

Oh well, you'll hear him on the mix.

11 Pretty Girls Make Graves. Good lord, they rocked. It sounded like the Voidoids with the Gang of Four's rhythm section and Debbie Harry on vocals. But somehow current, too. Wow.

I'm listening to them now! I got a copy from a girl who works with Mr. H.

Pssst. Hayden, check Press (I don't drink beer though).

So here's a bit of a funny thing, unrelated to anything. I've spent the last six years of my life fully convinced I hate Ska. Every ska song I'd ever heard made my face go all squinty like Charles Bronson. Then I borrow my roomates discman and there's a really bitchin' Ska CD in it (Let's go to Work by The Kingpins, BTW). I enjoy the hell out of most of it, proceed to listen to a few others, and realized I don't hate Ska at all. Which is weird enough to set me to thinking about why I figured I did.

Turns out, I just hate songs that are about the type of music they belong to. Ska seems to have a lot of songs about Ska itself. Which annoys the living hell out of me. On further reflection, I realized I also hate country songs about country music, punk songs about punk rock, and pop songs about sex. I'm not sure how that last one fits into the theory, but still. Furthermore, I don't really know if I hate songs from one genre about a different one.

Now, I don't really have a point per se, but this line of thinking makes me want to write a country song about Heavy Metal, just to see if I hate it. Maybe Satan's wife can two time him, and his lake of fire can get repoed and his hellhound can die. I dunno.

I can't get behind the genre-celebrates-itself hate as some of my favorite artists (Chuck Berry, Lou Reed, Public Enemy) wrote some of their best songs ("Roll Over Beethoven", "School Day", "Rock and Roll", "Bring the Noise", "Rebel without a Pause") about their music. Not to go all Goldwater, but... self-reflexiveness in the service of killer tunes is no vice!

Got bicyclops' & Sue's mixes this weekend. Haven't really listened to them, but ripped 'em & will pass them along to msbelle in the next couple days. Fun liner notes. And bicyclops' packaging: OMG! You've seen the cover [insert link I can no longer find here], but he also put album covers on the inside & used fun graphics on the back. So ambitious that I need a nap just thinking about it. msbelle, I will also send you a disc with tagged mp3s so that if you or someone else want them you can have them w/o going to the trouble of cursing Music Match, your computer & the heavens for hours at a stretch. (Btw, I think I ripped them as mp3 pro files at the highest setting I have -- higher quality in a smaller file. I think they're supposed to work with any mp3 player, but if they don't... sorry about that.)

I can't get behind the genre-celebrates-itself hate as some of my favorite artists (Chuck Berry, Lou Reed, Public Enemy) wrote some of their best songs ("Roll Over Beethoven", "School Day", "Rock and Roll", "Bring the Noise", "Rebel without a Pause") about their music.

I save my hate for the sub-category of "it sucks to be a musician (or celebrity)." I mean, come on, you chose this life! Save your whining for in private!

Oddly, except for Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark." Largely because it was the right song at the right moment. With a killer tune.

Woohoo CDS por moi! Awesomeness.

ION launch.com continues to rock.

Pssst. Hayden, check Press (I don't drink beer though).

Excellent! Lemme know when you're coming down & we'll get some Scotch & take in the show.

Now Playing: Steve Earle Poor Boy.

Good times.

Now getting slagged at AMG: Courtney Love's latest.

Gee, it kind of looks like maybe Kurt did ghost write most of Live Through This.