Pretty War

From the Brilliant Minds at McSweeney's...

ALTHOUGH
I LIKE A GOOD
GEORGE W. BUSH JOKE
AS MUCH AS THE NEXT GUY, SOME OF THEM SEEM GRATUITOUS AND
MEAN-SPIRITED.
BY MATT ALEXANDER

my favorite ...

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Under the Patriot Act, we don't have to tell you that.

Wilco Podcast

Follow this link to download a podcast of Wilco on Bob Edwards XM Radio program

iPod Shuffle for Friday

1. Offend In Every Way - The White Stripes
2. Righteously - Lucinda Williams
3. The Breakup Song - Greg Kihn Band
4. O.J. Blues - Johnnie Johnson
5. Universal Traveler - AIR
6. Mother Mary - Eels
7. Take It Or Leave It - The Strokes
8. How To Disappear Completely - Radiohead
9. Sex Boy - AIR
10. Hoochie Woman - Tori Amos
iPod exhibits sense of humor with the last 2 songs back to back.

Friday Cat Bloggin'

Wayne the Cat

Another Tweedy Post

Via Chromewaves --- Jam! talks to Wilco's frontman:

"We have the luxury of getting together and making (stuff) up, that's our job," he says. "It's not lost on me that that's a distinct joy and privilege to have in your life -- and that's how you should approach it, like a kid."

Bob and Willie

Jason Toon reviews the Willie Nelson/Bob Dylan show in Sauget, IL for Pitchfork:

Sauget, Illinois (pop. 249) is a toxic sump of chemical plants and strip clubs just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, an ugly smear of scrubland with the unofficial motto "when you can taste the air, you know you're there." But the Sauget family's misbegotten fiefdom owns a few small pieces of musical notoriety. Uncle Tupelo immortalized it in "Sauget Wind" with lines like "Industrial wind/ It blows from the west/ It'll burn out your eyes/ And suck out your breath," Mötörhead pays an annual visit to the 24-hour metal dive Pop's, and earlier this month a couple of American treasures-- Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson-- passed through town.

Top 10 So Far

Halfway through the year. In the wee hours of 2005 I made a promise, resolution, covenant with myself ... whatever you want to call it ... to acquire less music this year and spend more time with each record. I've done better, but I still have records that I am not as familiar with as I'd like to be. Somehow the great ones end up sticking out and getting heard, but many of my all-time favorites are ones that didn't grab me initially, so I still have that suspicion that I may be missing out on something great. For instance, my favorite record of all-time, OK Computer by Radiohead really took some time to grow on me, and if I hadn't given it that 6th or 7th spin, I would've missed out on Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail To the Thief, all of which are classics in my collection. Anyway, enough rambling ... Here is my top 10 so far of 2005, with a caveat that some cd's I own, I just haven't gotten to listen enough to include, and some that I list below, I may be sick of by the end of the year. So here goes, in no particular order ...

Top 10 of 2005 as of Tuesday, July 5th at 8:24 pm:

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Beck - Guero
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies To Paralyze
Feist - Let It Die
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

Please let me know what I'm missing out on in the comments section

Stars Video

One of my favorite records
of the year is by Montreal,
Canada's Stars.
"Set Yourself On Fire"
is dear chamber pop,
and it's gotten as many spins
as anything else I've acquired in '05.
Thanks to Frank at Chromewaves,
via Pop (All Love),
here is a nicely shot
video for "Reunion".