This came up in conversation last week amongst some friends. Wow.

Album of the Week

Just got this 3LP with bonus DVD slab of beauty in the mail. It's a live set from their NYC show last year to commemorate their 10th year as a band, and they celebrate in stlye, backed by a 24 piece orchestra. The DVD captures the show in its entirety, a godsend for all of us who missed out (the band only played 2 shows in the US with the orchestra). The packaging is outstanding and the audio is SUPERB, thanks to their record label who actually gives a fuck about how their music sounds. Hail Temporary Residence Ltd.!

Album Of The Week

Just watched Wolverine on DVD, and I immediately had to dig up this brilliant post from the Craigslist film forum, which I originally read last year when the movie was still in theaters. I've often felt that some (though not all) of the posters on that particular forum tend to be a jaded, pretentious, sort of know-it-all bunch whose posts usually come off as pretty dull and witless. Then this artiste comes along...

My adventure with Wolverine < - > 05/02 16:55:37

Ok, its not really my adventure with Wolverine, cause, well, I didn't see Wolverine...What I did see was Hanna Montana the Movie. Now I know what you are wondering, "Just what the hell is a 42 year old man doing watching such crap?" Well the answer is simple, and it doesn't involve me being a pervert...well, not that kind of pervert. Hanna Montana music is the guilty pleasure of the woman I am dating...I feel I must point out at this time that other than this idiosyncrasy this woman is an intelligent, funny and all around well adjusted adult...that and she has a great ass and nice tits! Oh, and she's pretty good in the sack as well...so when she told me she wanted to see Hanna Montana but didn't want to go alone I told her I'd go with her because I just love her that much...the BJ that I knew I would get later had NOTHING to do with it! Anyway, we went to a 9:35 showing on Thursday night and we were the only people in the theater. Toward the end of the movie, I think it was about 11:20, a rather large rowdy group of young men came into the theater and sat down. I immediately realized that they were there for a midnight showing of Wolverine. About ten minutes later the movie ended and my date and I got up to leave. As we were walking to the exit I over heard one of the guys comment to the effect of "Oh my god, that guy was here watching Hanna Montana!" To which I shouted back, "Yea, and in about a half hour when you start getting your rocks off to a sweaty naked guy on a big screen I'm gonna be having sex with a real woman...if you're lucky and win the lottery, maybe some day you'll get to touch a real boob!" My date got mad at me, but I apologized and still got the BJ...

Album of the Week

I like Van Halen as much as the next guy, but I've never been a die-hard fan. Still, out of the entire VH catalog, this is the album I first became intimately acquainted with, having bought it when it first came out 22 years(!) ago and subsequently playing it to death on my Walkman® throughout my junior year of high school. I pretty much forgot about it all these years, as I never did pick it up on CD. Too busy discovering/exploring the harder stuff. Napalm Death, anyone? Right. Anyway, I happened upon a vinyl copy recently, and as I examined the cover and the condition of the record, the memories came flooding back of just how fucking ROCKING this album was. "Definitely Vinyl-Worthy" I thought, and scooped up this bit of teen nostalgia for a paltry 5 bones. And damned if it 'aint as completely balls-to-the-wall bad ass now as it was back in 1988. This one's a classic, kids, a venerable smorgasbord of perfectly poppy tunes (When It's Love, Feels So Good) sandwiched in between electrifying hard rock anthems (A.F.U. (Naturally Wired), Sucker In A 3 Piece). And just FYI, I (unfortunately) downloaded a track off the album from iTunes, impatient as I was to get the wax ripped into my hard drive, and have found the sound quality on the vinyl to be far superior to the mp3. Duuuuuh. Whatev, Francis, lighten up and crank it!

Risen Phoenix

3 of my favorite bands have decided to reunite/reconvene this year and tour. I can't miss out on this...

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR



SWANS



SOUNDGARDEN
They're back... in lego form

Album of the Week

Diggin' this new 3LP set. Her shrilly child-voice was growing on me on her last record, Ys (which was fantastic), and now with this new effort I think she's finally reigned in the banshee and found her voice. The music sweeps you into a lush garden paradise–all calm, cool, dreamlike and wondrous. The cover art perfectly captures the music contained therein. This will be on my top 10 list at the end of the year.

Now re-reading...