[tws]

Happy Friday, everyone. I hope your weeks have treated you all well. Here are a bunch of things that are tied together by the letter "t," my name not being one of them, though I'm sure I could easily use that for the fifth one if I were that high on myself.

TRAGIC LOSS

flickr: madflowr
Clark Sabine died at the age of 33 on Tuesday night in Arlington. I never had the privelege of getting to know Clark that well in person, but I'm friends with various musicians who've performed and worked with Clark and everyone says he was a complete class act. I've seen him perform a few times: once at IOTA, as his solo/electroclash/whatever you want to call it, 'Disconnect' and heading up the band Statehood at Fort Reno in the summer of '08 (which was, for all intents and purposes his current band at the time of his death). He'll be missed by DC musicians and fans alike [Washington City Paper]. Here's Statehood playing a song at Fort Reno last year.



TERRIFIC OUTDOOR CONCERTS
Speaking of Fort Reno, their summer schedule is now up! Around the corner from the Tenleytown Metro, there is no better way to unwind on a gorgeous summer evening than to grab dinner, go chill on the grass as a quality local-ish band plays their "hits." Bring a frisbee and friends! Alcohol is strictly prohibited since it's a public park, so if you're a douchebag who can't have fun unless you drink, Cleveland Park row is two Metro stops away. ("Oh, shit! No he di'int!" - You, at your computer)

TROPHIES


"I think that the Washington Capitals, without Alexander Ovechkin, not only do they not finish 4th overall in the NHL, I don't think they make the playoffs." - Pierre "Awful Hockey Analyst" LeBrun on ESPN, apparently unaware that Nick Backstrom, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Alex Semin, David Steckel, and Tomas Fleishmann also play for the Capitals.

TIG

...is headlining the Arlington Drafthouse TONIGHT and tomorrow night at 9:45 pm, and I'm featuring for her. We've also got Eli Sairs hosting, and special appearances by Kathleen O'Brien (Fri) and Mike Eltringham (Saturday), so statistically, everyone in the DC-MD-VA area is either friends with, or owes money to, or is owed money by, one of those funny people. Come out and have some laughs, beer, and a good end to your week.

[tws]

Thanks to those of you who tuned into The Big Takeover last night, and especially to author Michael T. Fournier, writer of the 33 1/3 book on Double Nickels on the Dime. I'll post the audio of that very soon, mostly so you can hear my genuine amazement when Michael reminded me that last night's show happened to be on June 16th.

Anyway, I don't have too much time to write today, but I had to post a few of these. Some guy filmed Blur's first concert as Blur proper in almost a decade at a Rail Museum on Colchester, UK (where they played their first gig 21 years ago) in HD from the front row.

Albarn crowdsurfing during "Advert"


A wonderful birds-eye view of Damon's adam's apple during "Country House"


It's always a breath of fresh air to see bands who'll dig deep into their catalogue and play songs the kids want. Or in this case, the people who were kids back in 1990 and now have kids.


They sound good- very good. Reunion of the decade? Hopefully it plays out that way!

[tws]

What a great weekend this was for douchebags- The Penguins won the Stanley Cup, the Lakers won the NBA title, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a massive, Bush-style dump on democracy and gave the US press yet another chance to portray Iran as the backwards nation is clearly isn't.

I don't sound bitter, do I? Well, I don't have as much of a good reason to be, for many reasons.



For one, the Fort Dupont Ice Arena is reopening soon. They're repainting the ice and will have their first public skate of the summer on June 19th. Please help them out by signing this petition to expand the rink, as it is District Property and has some great programs for DC and other area youth. I can't write enough about how important this rink is to the district, and because it's a non-profit, it is perpetually in need of support.

Boy it probably sucks to be Marian Hossa now. Not only because he's been on the losing end of two Stanley Cup finals with two different teams in back to back years, but because the media is on him like a crazy 'fro wig on Phil Specter. What I love about hockey is that there's no way of knowing that he would have a cup if he'd stayed with the pens. I'm not questioning that Hossa is a traitor in some respects, but if he'd resigned with the team, they wouldn't have been as mediocre through the middle of the season, Michel Therrien may not have been fired, and they may not have traded for 'ill Bill' Guerin, whose veteran leadership made it possible for Cindy Crysby to bask in the media spotlight. The Penguins may also have not traded for Chris Kunitz, whose cross-checks to goalies' throats were clearly too impressive to be called. Way to step up, NHL. At least now the love affair with the Penguins will die down like the media's love affair with the Red Sox did after 2004, and Super Mario Lemieux will rightfully re-assume his place in hockey lore above his shoe-shine boy Crosby. (Strange thing: If the Wings had won the Cup, Marian Hossa would have been the first Ottawa Senators draft pick to ever get his name on the cup. Now, it's Brooks Laich's turn in 2010, suckas).

Anyhow, now that I've alienated everyone from Western Pennsylvania (Can the Pirates start not being horrible again, anyway?), here is the playlist from last week's episode of The Big Takeover! [PART ONE] [PART TWO]


Cosmic Hearse, the blog of SF drummer and music collector Aesop

We had some fun with this one. Sorry it took a little while, but we had to record it in the analog domain and transfer it. It's on the iTunes feed, too: checkit.

1. vic ruggiero - mad at me
   [Gator and the Gooch, on their lawsuit]
2. dinosaur jr – over it
   [Anatoly Belikov, Russian Wresling legend, calls in]
3. rolling stones - brown sugar
4. reel big fish – the set up (you need this)
5. city limits - drug free
6. the orphans – the government stole my germs CD
7. descendents - bikeage [request]
8. prince – dirty mind
   [Interview with Aesop Dekker Part 1]
9. tina age 13 – elevator
   [Interview with Aesop Part 2]
10. chronic sick – man rape blues
11. the ergs! - every romance language [request]
12. afghan whigs - brother woodrow/closing prayer

[tws]



"It's a good time to be Ovie. I can't wait to put some of my moves on there." - Alex Ovechkin

Ah, to be the best and know full well that you're the best...

Speaking of which, I was going to write an extensive treatise on the threat of bilateral globolization in the third world, but I'll put this here instead. This song wins the TDC "Best Horrible Lyrics of all Time" award. For anyone who was in high school in the 90's, YOU'RE WELCOME.



Have a great weekend, everyone! MUST...BUY...ABERCROMBIE...CLOTHING....

[tws]



I realized I haven't written in about a week, so here we go. Music post time. What to write about? Well, I'm back on a decent Ween kick, so I'll give anyone who cares to read my ten favorite Ween songs with something resembling explanations why. (I understand, for the record, that qualifying Ween songs is a feeble practice, since pretty much every song they've recorded is great upon its own merits, in the inexplicable way that Ween are the greatest rock band ever while simultaneously not being the greatest rock band ever. That's all I'm saying about that).

Anyway, here are ten great songs.

BIG JILM

One of poppiest songs on Pure Guava, no doubt. Most of the lyrics are indecipherable (of course) and the high-pitched "doo doo doo"s accomplished in deconstructionist indie rock in 1992 what Kanye overdoes so often in hip-hop nowadays. Rumor has it that Big Jim hooked Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo (Weens' real names, ftkt) up with drugs back in the day. Here, he's Jilm for whatever reason. This song's born with a ridiculous groove and it builds momentum perfectly from top to bottom. You would suck for not liking this.

MARBLE TULIP JUICY TREE

In 2003, my girlfriend at the time had a younger brother who was straight-up obsessed with this band. He found out that I wasn't and took action to remedy it, making me a mix of all his favorite Ween songs (of which he had hundreds on his computer). This was the fourth track on that mix (after "Nicole," "Mutilated Lips," and "Ocean Man" (which would probably be #11 on this list). The only way I could describe this song is "epic." Kind of like if Jim Steinman wrote "Bat out of Hell" after huffing scotchguard and getting kicked in the nuts. It rocks, dude. Amazing that Dean and Gene recorded this as bored teenagers in New Hope, PA.

IT'S GONNA BE (ALRIGHT)

Not like their masterpiece The Mollusk it a disease or anything, but this song is the antidote. Anything too harsh or unconventional for some listeners' ears is immediately counteracted by this gorgeous, flowing love(?) song. But it still makes fun of love songs and adult contemporary by outdoing them both at once. Nice.

THE STALLION (PART 3)

Simply put, great songwriting. The "Stallion" was probably some drug reference, as was a majority of the hyperbole/symbolism/boognish on The Pod and Pure Guava, but there's something wistful and soul-massaging about this treatise on "touching the waves of the earth." Impressive time-signature use here, too.

I'M DANCING IN THE SHOW TONIGHT

Easily one of my favorite "first tracks" of all time, right up there with "Silence Kit" and a couple of select other songs. How much would I sacrifice to see them perform this with a full symphony orchestra? Probably a lot.

I GOTS A WEASEL

Quintessential. Watch this whole thing to see their love of Prince expressed, but this song starts around 0:42.

If you're cool, then you are still my friend after watching that.

REGGAEJUNKIEJEW

A fine, fine pastiche of profanity, noodly percussion, wacky sounds, and an effective treatise on... a jewish guy with dreadlocks, on heroin? I think? After a little fact-checking, it's apparently about some guy named Brian Lensky, who did heroin. The Chris they refer to him wanting to hang out with is allegedly Chris Barron, the lead singer of the Spin Doctors. OMFG Guyz remember them!??

ROSES ARE FREE

A big laundry list of advice for people who are constantly on acid. Chocolate and Cheese was a pretty accessible album, but there's something that's so magnetic about this song that it drove Phish to cover it and turn even more stoners onto Geen and Dean's magic. The songwriting here reminds me of They Might Be Giants, in that all the lyrics seem to have a theme, but it's almost like the artist wants all their fans to >fight about it for ages.

DR. ROCK

It's hard to not include this song on the list [DOCTOR ROCK!] for a bunch of reasons. Mainly, [DOCTOR ROCK!] it will melt your face. If you need any more proof [DOCTOR ROCK!] of that, just watch the video clip below. I love what [DOCTOR ROCK!] the Pitchfork 500 book said about this song: Ween recorded this song [DOCTOR ROCK!] circa 1990 when they were first starting to realize that people may actually [DOCTOR ROCK!] be paying attention to their ridiculous tracks, so it's still got that youthful unprofessionalism [DOCTOR ROCK!] mixed in with the face-meltingness. A treasure.