tv

Scrubs is the shit.

I think it's consistently laugh-out-loud funny and eccentric and unpredictable (as much as tv can be) and chaotic (but tight) and touching-in-a-non-schmaltzy-way (as much as tv can be). It's totally one of the most original television comedies that's ever aired.

Word.

"The Pigeons Of Shit Metal"

Wow! It *does* sound like Axl is "out of his fucking mind"...who knew!?

the best bit...

He had a couple of fans thrown out for pissing him off. Then when he called us The Pigeons Of Shit Metal, Tommy Stinson, their bass player took his bass off and goes: 'Fuck you, that's it'. And then he threw his bass down. But then Axl picked up his bass and fucking threw it at him dude. It was a fucking circus up there."

-Jesse "The Devil" Hughes

praise, praise, praise Jeremy and Soul Seek

for it reunited me with the Exploding Hearts once again.

And this time I own the record!

That and several other albums I've waited for years to plunder from J Dog.

The other newly acquireds, from Jeremy, via the Soul machine:

Love~ the debut record and Forever Changes
Kinks~The Village Green Preservation Society (finally!), Kinda Kinks and one other...
TV on The Radio~ Return to Cookie Mountain
My Bloody Valentine~ Loveless

some LIVE Stone Roses, Streets, The Nice Boys and (J's latest fave) Larrikin Love.

and....(inexplicably) the new, yet to be released BLOC PARTY record: A Weekend in the City (NME just had a fantastic write-up about this group of tunes. Apparently they're about sex, anxiety, bombs and war. And, it's not coming out officially till May or some shit. Yes.)

(((sigh)))

I feel tingles all over. Illegal tingles.

And, people, this is only the beginning (J has copious amounts of amazing, obscure music that I wouldn't be getting anywhere else)! I feel like an adolescent who just discovered Napster...iyiyiyi!

remember when Smithers was black?

"Black Smithers" was on the Simpsons tonight.
It was his debut!
check it (from Wiki, Wiki):

In his first appearance, in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was mistakenly made African-American by the production team in Korea. The studios have claimed that Smithers was intended to be yellow, and that his first appearance should be considered suntanned.

huh. I always (mistakenly) assumed they chose to reconsider Smithers' character: gay, black, subservient and slightly evil. Thinking it might be a bit much and just decided to strike one of the four down...

PS This early episode was really unsatisfying. The crude animation also distracted me more than it used to. I feel spoiled.

explica, por favor

OK--so, the reason that silly Pepsi ad never aired was because Madonna had released her video for the song "Like A Prayer."

which went a lil' sumpin like dis: (the Catholic church wasn't too happy bout it, if you remember, so Big Pepsi had to pull their "wholesome" ad. heh. M still got all the dough, though. that and LOADS of pub... as per usual.)

"A Taste of America"-- minus the burning crosses and sex with a saint

The Pepsi commercial that never aired, courtesy of Madge's myspace. (!)


1989 Pepsi Commercial - Previously Unseen

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Did people actually watch the Lady M on regular tee vee on Wednesday night? I think they did.

"What a production," they say.

"I was there," I say.

and I still don't believe I really was.

I think I kinda get it now

Phish is my Tori Amos.

(think of it phrased as an SAT question)

Is it a redhead thing? No. It's a Cult Thing.

I don't think I can really say anymore.

If I did, I'd have to kill you.

R.I.P., Robert Altman

NY Times obit, here.

My fave movie of his is Vincent and Theo, but I was always astounded at each of his films I saw...that controlled chaos, dramatic realism...his ballsy way of letting dialogue slip away or be purposefully trampled...

There are *many* films of his I have wanted to see for years. Infamously (in my apartment, anyway), my last film I ever got from Netflix was "Short Cuts." I never watched it (it's dauntingly 187 minutes long). This remained in my apartment, by the DVD player for OVER three months. I finally bit the bullet, sent it back and cancelled my subscription to the Great DVD Rental Arrangement.

The shame, the shame.

"they turn into WILD ANIMALS!"

I became a different kind of zombie last night. The Classic TV Zombie. To my credit, it was only for a couple of hours, while I did my wash…but, still.

These are the things I stumbled across in the Big Bad World of Cable TV:

•Al Pacino on Inside the Actor’s Studio (sweet Jesus, do I love and miss that show). He was great, actually seems very intelligent and well-read, and not *that* pretentious. And, y’know, Al Pacino has a bloody *right* to be pretentious. A highlight (this one’s for JMo): Ol’ Man Lipton says that Kevin Spacey told him the actors “had a name” for the film “Glengarry Glen Ross” on the set. Lipton wants Pacino to say it, but Pacino is clueless and says “they left me out of everything. What did they call it?” Lipton: “Death of a Fucking Salesman.” I laughed out loud. And, I dug his answers to the ol Bernard Pivot questionnaire. My fave: “What turns you on?” Pacino, with a mild laugh: “Everything.”


•Flipping channels and found a really, really early (I think) “Growing Pains.” And I had never seen the show the whole way through in my life (I still haven’t, didn’t see more than five minutes of this one). The entire show, it seems, was about the Born Again Christian child actor who plays the son, trying to score Springsteen tickets. I shit you not. Best line of the whole damn five minutes comes from a friend of the son’s (I had to switch it after this, cuz nothing could top it): “Aw, man! Have you ever seen a girl after a Bruce Springsteen concert? They turn into *WILD ANIMALS*!!”

•Then this saddened and disturbed me so, I had to turn that contraption off, once and for all! It was a Dell commercial, I think…and the unmistakable music began…one of my favorite songs of the last year. It’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” by the 13th Floor Elevators and it originally came out in 1966. I fucking LOVE it. I own it from Nuggets (it was on the first one, in 1977). And it always makes me think of the flick, “High Fidelity” --it’s the first song you hear as you watch the vinyl spin and it’s muted, and muddled (exactly how a record sounds when the top is flipped up) and then those righteous screams kick in and it sounds dangerous and angry. It's one of those perfect fuck-you, break-up anthems, really what the first part of that movie is all about. Now, it’s on a fucking commercial and it just seems really, really wrong. It’s too punk, too screechy, too weird, too GREAT to be used to hawk computers…..right? Augh. I just can’t deal with using “dangerous” music for consumerism. Can’t deal, I tell you… I feel like a grumpy ol’ curmudgeon. Grrr.

Check out their sordid history here. Including this fact, I gotta share: “The band's name is a play on the superstitions that lead to many tall buildings not having a 13th floor, and the fact that the letter "M" (for marijuana) is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet. Tommy Hall's wife, Clementine is credited with helping to think up the name.”

making my day

Diablo Cody helped make my day...pinker (better and brighter) with her post from the 14th. Well, that and the crazy short day I had to work (3.5 hours! but, tomorrow I pay for it, cuz I work for 11 hours...boo-urns). I got to spend rare, precious time with Fitzy, too--before and after work. It felt like we were a "normal" couple today! In that way that peeps get to see their lovahs before and after work on a regular basis, whereas our work schedules usually do not permit such luxuries.

I might not get a chance to write for a while, and that bums me out a bit. I am going to be house/doggie-sitting for a co-worker (actually a really fun gig) for the next week and there's no computer access (gasp!) I am hoping this might help me be a better person...like, not waste so much time proving old foggies' theories (even Noel Gallagher's) about the "iPod/MySpace Generation." I guess I have to face the facts and realize that I am one of those computer-eyed and eared zombies of this tech era.

Gulp.

Fuck it. Virtual community is better than no community at all. And what the fuck is wrong with daily altering my mood for the better with music in my ears as I journey to work and home and around my 'hood?

I shall not be ashamed! I shall shake my knees and my ass in public to the sounds of "The Information," by my fair-haired hero, Beck. Indeed, I have. And I will continue to do so. Even if that "cuts me off" from the immediate world around me. Frankly, I don't wanna hear what Mr. Drunk-at-seven-in-the-AM is shouting at me on Nicollet Mall. I'd really rather hear Alex Turner tell me about his weekend. And then mentally prepare for or reminisce about my own two days of freedom I get once every 5 days...

also: the picture above made me smile back at my computer screen, fool-like. (I just love the grin and that tatt peeking out from her shoulder... too hottt.)

I just felt a lil' sheepish at the fact that this is not the first time I put a picture up of Ms. Cody on my blog. Oh well. At least you can't see her tits this time.

I wanna be a go-go dancer when I grow up

Last night’s New York Dolls’ show did *not* disappoint. And, holy hell, does Lil’ Steven ever know how to throw a kick-ass rock and roll party. (I think the thing I envy most about Bruce Springsteen is that he has had Steven as a best friend since he was 16 years old). He knows that the secret ingredient to ultimate kick-assedness is having go-go dancers bring their sexy brand of enthusiasm to the stage while garage bands are churning out their riffs. After all, these are the true cheerleaders for music, man! (forget what they told you in Almost Famous about groupies, OK?) It’s all about the immediate. —Dancing to the magic...whilst the musicians are creating it on stage with the women who embody what it is all about... After all, it’s inevitably the answer so much of the time…to that question: why did you start a band?

*To get girls, man*

What better way to prove that fact, than to have that desire and ambition in the form of real live , flesh and blood, dancing girls! All that joy and inspiration---the Muse—right there, tantalizing the crowd and the dudes in the band. It makes me feel proud to be a woman, and I love the act of appreciation.

Last night, I thought of that great, smirking Mick Jagger quote....how he feels like a highly paid stripper from night to night. David Johansen really has that rock and roll look down: in “regular life” he would simply be freakish. But, on stage, it all makes sense. With those thighs the size of a woman’s arm, protruding ribs, and ginormous head, showcasing his uber-exaggerated Jagger-like features (smaller lips, but bigger mouth, somehow) he gyrates and swivels those microscopic hips is really what Rock front men are all about. There was not an ounce of the pathetic in last night’s performance (even if there were only two original members on stage) it was totally invigorating and tight and powerful. Every song was vital and made me think of what it would be like to see those fuckers debut that *Sound* on stage at CBGB or Max’s Kansas City (last night, the name of that venue was proudly displayed above the ass of guitarist, Sylvain Sylvainon, on a leather weight-lifting belt). I thought about everyone they must have inspired: those “fringe” rockers, the dudes that liked to wear lipstick, and the musicians who wanted to kill Arena Rock.

I couldn’t take the grin off of my face for the entire show. Much like Johansen’s grotesque, bemused, and totally genuine smile that spread across his face—like he was maybe surprised (?) to see the enthused fans get into the set like it was 1973. The crowd was predominantly comprised of aging Punk Rock Nerd Boys who never really grew up. Thrusting their middle fingers in the air for the end of the Supersuckers’ brilliant, rowdy set (THEY had the go-go ladies on stage, the Dolls did not), they were having a fucking blast. And, I wondered if they really got out much anymore… But, really, I kept thinking about how age is completely meaningless in rock. All three times that I’ve seen the Rolling Stones and marveled that they had more raw energy than any “young” band I have ever seen.

Last night, I felt the same way—these guys are totally in it still. I felt optimistic about it all…how my life might play out… Yet another existential inner monologue taking place under the roof of First Ave. Exactly how it should be.

in 1973, I was negative 8

that's the last time the New York Dolls were in MPLS (also the year their first record came out). I will be seeing them, as Lil' Steven's Underground Garage presents them at First Ave TOMORROW NIGHT, people.

whew. it's a little exciting. I must say...

check out what my man Jim had to say (fuck. I have been re-watching Da Ali G show. and you can tell...)

Tuesday 14
New York Dolls

Get out the leather and lipstick, garageland ladies and lads: David Johansen's glam-pioneers return to the Twin Cities for the first time since their debut at Teenland at the Minnesota State Fair in 1973. You can be forgiven if your Dolls delirium is tempered by the loss of the dead boys (Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Arthur "Killer" Kane, subject of last year's wonderful doc New York Doll
), or the survivors' samey new studio album One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This.

But know that David Jo is still alive and kicking and doing the American Mick Jagger thing better than most, and these reunion shows have been garnering good reviews. Plus, as Halloween proves, everybody loves a guy dressed in drag -- add drums and guitars and songs as sweaty-good as "Personality Crisis," "Who Are The Mystery Girls?," "Trash," and "Frankenstein," and, well, everybody must get laid tonight. With the Supersuckers, the Chesterfield Kings, and more. Presented by Little Steven's Underground Garage. 8 p.m.; $20; 700 N. First Avenue, Mpls.: 612-338-8388.—Jim Walsh

"Who's Rumsfeld?"

This is...amazing...and disturbing. And (kinda!) puts a spin on the whole Kerry's botched joke fiasco.

Marines Get the News From an Iraqi Host: Rumsfeld's Out. "Who's Rumsfeld? "

choice words of Rummy

I love the BBC. And, wow...I know the whole Orwell thing might be cliché....but, seriously! This is the fucking *definition* of "doublespeak" in every way.

check it:


Rumsfeld in his own words

Following a poor Republican result in the US mid-term elections, US President George W Bush has announced that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to step down.
Mr Rumsfeld, one of the longest-serving defence secretaries, is known for his rhetoric. Here are a selection of quotes from his six years under George W Bush.
DECEMBER 2004
As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
2004
It seems to me that it's up to all of us to try to tell the truth, to say what we know, to say what we don't know, and recognise that we're dealing with people that are perfectly willing to, to lie to the world to attempt to further their case and to the extent people lie of, ultimately they are caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take very long for that to happen dealing with people like this.
MARCH 2003
We know where they [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.
FEBRUARY 2003
And it is not knowable if force will be used [in Iraq], but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.
OCTOBER 2002
[Osama Bin Laden is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
SEPTEMBER 2002
No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
FEBRUARY 2002
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.
MAY 2001
Once in a while, I'm standing here, doing something. And I think: 'What in the world am I doing here?' It's a big surprise.

Maureen Dowd gets to interview her heartthrobs

If you can read one thing outta Rolling Stone magazine these days, please check out the Colbert/Stewart interview, brilliantly put together by Miss Dynamite Dowd. My FAVE..........my heroine.

Stewart comes across as kind of a jerk. A lovable jerk, that is. He has a bit about how he thinks Bush is *NOT* dumb...just "fiercely competitive, uncurious about the world and self-absorbed," apparently. It's kind of strange, but you can see what he means.

Colbert is as *real* and complex as you'd hope. (Dude had 11 siblings growing up and lost two of his bros and his father when he was 10.) Reading about his encounter with O'Reilly was a fuckin' *trip.* (Colbert actually admires the guy, in a way...)

My favorite bit, Colbert quotes one of his writers on the subject of the comedian's historic appearance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner : [to Colbert] "You threw a bottle of grape soda that happened to have a lit rag in the neck, and the the room was soaked with gasoline."

Word.

And after Dowd wrote how the two set up each other's punchlines, finish each other's sentences and generally seem to share a brain...she asks them, "But wouldn't, say, a President Obama be harder to make fun of than these guys [Cheney, Bush, et. al.]?"

STEWART: Are you kidding?
Colbert and Stewart in unison: "His dad was a goat-herder!"

"'Do they actually come from fucking Mars?'"

(this is for Elizabeth)

Noel Gallagher was simply *made* to be the king of snide, rock'n'roll sound bites (aka rock journalism's wet dream).

The latest, makes me think of both Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but of course, Noel does it his way...from NME:

Noel Gallagher - 'The fantasy's gone out of making music'
The Oasis guitarist believes 'kids have it too good'

Oasis mainman Noel Gallagher says the "fantasy" has gone out of making music - because of advances in technology.

Speaking exclusively in this week's NME, the star bemoans the iPod and DVD generation because of their insistence on wanting more and more information about how records are made.

He said: "This generation of kids just rely on the technology - that's what they want. These days you can see fucking Johnny Borrell in his pants going through the bass parts, and that just strips away the magic for me."

He added: "Everyone just wants more and more information. All the fantasy's gone out of music, 'cos everything is too fucking real. Every album comes with a DVD with some cunt going, 'Yeah well, we tried the drums over there, but...' Give a shit, man! It makes people seem too human, whereas I was brought up on Marc Bolan and David Bowie, and it was like, 'Do they actually come from fucking Mars?'"

triste, but there is hope

Watching Charlie Rose...Main story is Kerry's "botched joke." Charlie is interviewing DNC Chair, Howard Dean and my eyes just started to get wet.

I was totally a Dean zealot for months when he was actually a presidential hopeful. I thought he was one of the most brilliant, well-spoken, and good humored politician I had ever known.

Then the most re-dick thing ever happened. You know, he got "too excited" and his voice sounded "scary" and "shrill" and everyone turned on him and it was crushing.

And then we lost the election.

And you know the rest.

Seeing him with Mr. Rose tonight just made me feel that crushed feeling in my stomach again, but Mr. Dean's rosy cheeks and quirky/stiff smile were beaming...optimistic. I felt better...

Second half of Charlie Rose: David Kuo interview. What a sweet, mild, articulate man. (the poor guy has a brain tumor, Charlie brings it up right away) He grew up thinking that main purpose of politics was to "serve the poor" (his political ideal was Bobby Kennedy) ...but he knocked up a chick in college, she had an abortion and he ended up working for the Religious Right.

[shudder]

When he first met Dubya, they spent hours talking about "economic, racial and social justice."

Wow. Yep. Kuo was inspired and thought that Bush's faith and politics were truly "compassionate."

But then he sees Bush, up close, as "deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives" and sees him do nothing.

So, he writes this book, "Tempting Faith," simply one of the most fascinating pieces of evidence to show those masses of religious and Bush-supporting folks (yes. I just wrote folks.)and ask them what they think Bush has done for them.

I think it's the biggest no-brainer of all time. (Yep, he *used* that whole compassionate conservative bullshit to get elected, cuz he knew how he could play the peeps)BUT, I still think Kuo is brave and it really has a chance to help the DFL for the mid-term elections.

Just more of that hope thing....