Watch out for the Man from Mars, as rumor has it he likes to eat bars and guitars....

Hey, Hec!

Did I tell you I've been listening to that Western Swing box set you rec'd? It's marvelous. I admit that Little Bird doesn't appreciate it, although that may be because I can't help but sing along ...

Whew, finally caught up.

And now mention of the "Pina Colada Song" (aka "Escape") during the earworm discussion has earwormed me as well.

Not with "Escape", but with "Timothy".

And, yes, there is a connection. MST3K had a whole riff on it.

Not too upset, though. "Timothy" makes for one bizarro earworm.

Paging SA!!!

Can you get yourself up to Cincy on Friday, May 14? Because Jamie Cullum is playing at this event, and I am *so* there.

Did I tell you I've been listening to that Western Swing box set you rec'd? It's marvelous. I admit that Little Bird doesn't appreciate it, although that may be because I can't help but sing along ...

I saw that. I love that 30s and 40s Western Swing a ton. There are just cool stories about those bands too. Basically they were Okies and Texans who grew up listening to Count Basie on the radio (out of Kansas City) and tried to play swing on their fiddles and steel guitars. And they were (a) shit hot players (I had a big epiphany listening to early Western Swing. In brief, the average front porch guitar player in America in the thirties had better chops than most supertar guitarists today) and (b) they were fun! Funny sassy endlessly swinging songs.

Ain't nothing wrong with a little Western Swing.

How had I not heard of CD Baby before? Now I am dooooooomed. Not only have I discovered the Vampire Beach Babes, but my "gothic" search turned up a band called Ver Sacrum, which has the description Violins. Cellos. Oboe. Lush, affected guitars. If you live in the 19th century and are regularly drinking absinthe, you are probably hearing music in your head already. For the rest of us, The Ballrooms of Mars is the perfect soundtrack for the visions that Baudelaire and Verlaine would have experienced.

I'm not supposed to be buying cds! I'm supposed to be saving up for a trip next month!

I'm not supposed to be buying cds! I'm supposed to be saving up for a trip next month!

looks sternly at Jilli and taps his toe

"Ballrooms of Mars" is a T.Rex songtitle, btw.

Oooh, look, Circus Contraption.

Quirky-jerky, loony-croony, gypsy carnival opera music. Tom Waits meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Danny Elfman meets Squirrel Nut Zippers? Listen to this glorious tangle of sounds and decide for yourself.

Circus Contraption is an honest-to-goodness, one-ring travelling circus based in Seattle, Washington. Music is an integral part of our show, and we work constantly toward blurring the lines between the musicians and physical performers in the creative process.

What do we sound like? Sometimes spooky, sometimes quirky, sometimes raucous, and sometimes just a bit silly. Imagine an off-kilter carousel accompanied by Halloween music gone slightly wrong. At any given moment, you'll hear vocals, accordion, banjo, guitar, bass, clarinet, violin, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, tuba, theremin, washboard, drums, beer bottles, rusty junk and elbow grease.

Circus Contraption puts a contemporary twist on circus music traditions with an aesthetic described as "a cross between Tom Waits and Wings of Desire" and as "the last surviving klezmer band in outback Paraguay."

More Victorian Goth music: Jill Tracy and the Malcontent Orchestra

"Into the Land of Phantoms" is an elegant, eerie journey led by cello, violin, marimba and orchestral percussion- hanging like velvet curtains around Jill Tracy's signature dark parlor piano."

This is a limited edition, so best to order now.

Described by the SF Weekly as "exquisite, lush, and positively poetic," the noirish compositions by Jill Tracy and The Malcontent Orchestra have developed a fervid following of devotees, critical acclaim, and multiple Bay Area Music Awards nominations. Their original score to F.W. Murnau's silent vampire classic "Nosferatu" has only enhanced the band's reputation of sophistication and musical virtuosity. The San Francisco Examiner described the score as "remarkable....lyrical and lovely." The Marin Independent called it "unforgettable." The San Francisco Chronicle hailed Nosferatu "deliciously macabre."

"I strive to honor the integrity of the film," explained composer/pianist Jill Tracy in a 1999 SF Gate interview during the filmscore's debut. I don't see Nosferatu as inciting horror or trepidation, as much as an unsettling allure. It's a beautiful, sensual work; the listener should surrender to the spell of the music as intensely as to the spell of the vampire."

For the past five years, Jill Tracy and The Malcontent Orchestra have performed the score live during the week of Halloween to the delight of Bay Area audiences. This is Jill Tracy's first instrumental album of this sort.

The beautifully designed booklet features artwork created from both the film's lavish scenes and the band in the theatre performing the work.

Check out Jill Tracy's stunning CD "Diabolical Streak" also available on CD Baby.