Mythic.

Mythic.

Many moons ago there were two rock and/or rollers with a regular Tuesday night gig at a little bar called Ten56. Naked dancing, bathroom make-out sessions, lotsa laughs, tawdry encounters, and general hi jinks the likes of which has yet to be repeated marked this residency.

Tomorrow night they reunite for a mammoth seven hour session at The Continental!

Saturday, February 28
DJ Tankboy
DJ Rudy Tuesday
at
The Continental
2801 W Chicago
from
10pm - 5am

BUSYbusyBUSYbusyBUSYbusyBUSY!

BUSYbusyBUSYbusyBUSYbusyBUSY!

On my plate:

• Saturday moving day
• Super-duper busy 9-to-5 (or 7, or 7) schedule
• Auditioning an awesome pack of new writers for Chicagoist
• Dinner tonight atN9NE with friends
• Karaoke at Trader Vic's and THEN Hey Champ at Darkroom
• Move car out of Photogal's garage
• DJ at Continental with Rudy Saturday night ( you ARE coming, right?)
• Figure out how to keep Betty the Beagle out of my refrigerator since now even the child locks aren't working
• Find my sanity
• Stock up on Sparks from my secret supply location

Yup, I'm a busy boy over the next few days!

Thank you to Twitter for reminding me this really happened last night.

Thank you to Twitter for reminding me this really happened last night.

SCENE: STANDING OUTSIDE MOTHER'S - A TRIXIE HOLDING THE ARM OF A STANDARD ISSUE CHAD WALKS BY OUR HERO

Girl: Smoking is so bad for you honey.
Me: So is waking up drink next to a douchebag ... honey.

My life would suck without Kelly Clarkson.

My life would suck without Kelly Clarkson.

Marcus just wrote about our dual love for Ms. Clarkson, so I'm stealing the video from him and posting it here!

Helpful hint of the day: Get Rid of YouTube Titles!

Helpful hint of the day: Get Rid of YouTube Titles!

Hey, are you as annoyed by YouTube's titling and rating of all it's embedded videos? Does it look ugly to you? Does it take away part of the fun of posting something and surprising them with the content? (Admit it, when a video warns you ahead of time that it's "ShamWow - PARODY" it's a lot less funny.)

Well, here's how to remove them. Witness the end result below.


[Crez CreamTeam for cluing me in!]

Tuesday's good for "Volunteering."

Tuesday's good for "Volunteering."

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! Anyone headed out to braving Mother's for Local H tonight? GalPal and I are considering it, if only to witness the culture clash. (I'm kidding, i'm sure Scott and Brian will totally slay everyone in the room.)

In a completely different musical vein, I'm really digging this quieter stuff Kevin (from Mannequin Men) and Co. have been turning out under the Shrimpss moniker.

Give "Volunteering" a listen first, it's my favorite. I would've posted this last night, but the link was wonky.

DOWNLOAD: Shrimpss - These Arms Are Shrimpss EP

And the dust is starting to settle...

And the dust is starting to settle...
Big big BIG happening at Tankboy HQ, which would explain why I have been unusually quiet recently. I can't really get into it this very second, but I can say all the developments are very positive!

Oooooh! The mystery!

In slightly less interesting news, the new Keppy Clarkson album is rocking my world pretty hard right now, even if I suspect my constant attempts to slip it onto the stereo are driving GalPal a little nuts. So the photo below is just for her...

Unsubscribing and mandatory attendance.

Unsubscribing and mandatory attendance.

Due to a marked decrease in quality I have unsubscribed to both F*** My Life and SecretTweet. It seems that the second they got popular both were flooded with posts both scripted and inane, thus reducing the harmlessly voyeuristic pleasures they once offered.

As always, I blame reality TV for this development.

In other news, the Venom Lords play tonight at Phyllis' Musical Inn. Yay! Unfortunately it is their last show with their drummer Scott before NYC swallows him whole. Boo! Attendance is mandatory and the poster is below.


And, I have no idea why, but I am suddenly hungry for steak!

The unfortunate sartorial decisions of a Young Master Tankboy.

The unfortunate sartorial decisions of a Young Master Tankboy.

Discuss.

Touch & Go.

Touch & Go.

The current Touch & Go brouhaha just underscores the confusion that ensues when some bloggers are punks, stealing bits and pieces of everyone else's work (cough, cough Daily Swarm, etc.) -- sometimes sans attribution -- totally muddling a story, so here it is for the record:

• Time Out Chicago broke the story, albeit over hyping the end results.
• Chicagoist commented on the situation briefly, admittedly offering absolutely no new insight beyone mentioning recent staff cuts.
• --insert supposed press embargo here--
• Greg Kot talked to Rusk and set the record straight.
• Oh yeah, and Jessica Hopper captured the whole thing in just ten words better than any of us.

Test driving Chrome...

Test driving Chrome...

Firefox has been crashing a lot lately so i'm test driving Chrome. I like the clean design, but am a little freaked that when it imported my Firefox settings that included ever password used in there. Plus, I miss the automatic spellcheck inside Firefox! And a number of other issues. We'll see how long this test drive lasts.

Musical discourse.

Musical discourse.

When one is involved in a heated musical debate regarding the merits of two bands -- say The Beatles versus The Stones -- and you switch from merits of the band to personal insults involving your conversational debate partner, you probably just lost the argument.

Marvel at these design skillz!

Marvel at these design skillz!

This flyer was created by Marcus Gilmer-girl. Stare in awe at his graphical abilities.


Be at The Burlington tonight. It's Keep's birthday! And everyone is coming over after Prairie Cartel. It will be INSANE. (Plus, the lovely and far-more-musically-astute-than-I JB will be joining me in selecting tonight's tune.

Lollapalooza predictions...

Lollapalooza predictions...

People keep asking me who I think will play this year's Lollapalooza so I'll throw a few names out there as predictions. I would like to emphasize that these are predictions! I have no inside knowledge of any sort.

Anyway, I am almost positive Jane's Addiction will headline with the original line-up. They've already played a few small shows, Eric Avery looked to be having a blast, so it seems obvious that they will want to celebrate with one HUGE show.

I also wouldn't be surprised if The Smashing Pumpkins headlined a night. Billy Corgan would take it as some sort of validation by the current musical climate and it would serve to deliver the band a massive crowd in their hometown.

And there's one band I'm really hoping plays this year, and that's Blur with Graham Coxon in the line-up. Since they're playing those two Hyde Park gigs I think it's a definite probability, and while I can't see the band wanting to do a tour in mid-size venues I can see them playing a few U.S. festival dates.

So those are just three predictions to get the conversation started ... who do you think is going to play? (And who would you LOVE to see play?

Mind blown.

Mind blown.

I had no idea the dude from Nerfherder wrote what is one of may favorite YouTube video songs, "Hamster On A Piano." Nor did I realize my favorite video was removed due to a lame legal request!

On the bright side, due to the fracas, Parry Gripp is offering both the track that launched a thousand sing-a-longs along with its sequel for free.

MP3: Parry Gripp "Hamster On A Piano"
MP3: Parry Gripp "Goodbye Hamster, Goodbye"

I got nuthin'.

I got nuthin'.

Overslept due to my alarm either a) not going off or b) shutting off before I actually woke up ... with my clock I'm never sure. What really confounds me is that I live with three animals and not a single one thought to lick my toes or walk over my face to wake me up!

Ungrateful little ingrates...

Two more things for a Tuesday. (Maybe three.)

Two more things for a Tuesday. (Maybe three.)

First, Paste is offering a free download of the new Damnwells disc. They ain't a Chicago band but they might as well be since their management came from here and I know the singer married a mighty fine gal from Chicago. Any way, I haven't heard it yet, but they've always put out good music, so I'm sure it's worth the price (FREE!) of admission.

DOWNLOAD: The Damnwells - One Last Century

Second, Sloan has released their latest video and it is a sumptuous extravaganza that proves a band on an indie label with virtually no budget can make a video whose beauty rivals even the million dollar babies spewed out my the hip-hop world.


Thirdly, there is a possible man-date in the works with Keep. We can begin to plot our world domination ... or at least figure out where we're gonna start practicing so we can bring the band off its hiatus. Whoo!

It's been a while...

It's been a while...

...so feast your eyes on the SNOW BEAGLE!

Monday morning advice?

Monday morning advice?

Greetings my technologically savvy friends, and welcome to another new week here! Chicago has had a reinvigorating burst of high temps and near Spring-like weather, so yesterday I took advantage of that to a) clean my apartment and air it out and b) finally get a MyBook 1 TB external drive. I backed up my music and such last night, but since I have so much space to spare I'd like to also just back-up the whole computer too. I don't want to pay for the software included on the drive, so can anyone recommend freeware that does a good job?

In other news, hey, who watched the Grammys last night?! I Tweeted through most of the show -- and must have done a decent job because I picked up a bunch of new followers as the evening went on -- so if you want to see my raw thoughts on the ceremony, that's where you'll find 'em. Check out GalPal's stream while you're at it since she had some snappy observations too. In a nutshell:

• I loved Radiohead's copping Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" vibe with the USC Marching Band
• T.I. and J.T.' duet was surprising good (and not just because I forgot how T.I. sounded sans AutoTune)
• There was not nearly enough M.I.A.
• Grammy voters still love old people
• Odetta deserved more than a third of the screen during the tribute segment
• Walking over Stevie Wonder's outro with commercials and voice overs was criminal
• Why is Katy Perry still around and why is anyone buying the sexpot act of a failed Christian-rock singer-songwriter?
• Do you think Blink-182 thanked Green Day backstage for providing them with a career?
• 98% of the ceremnoy not only sucked, but was nigh embarassing for everyone involved...

Did you see it? What're your thoughts?

It's the first Friday of the month!

It's the first Friday of the month!

So that must mean I almost forgot to tell you about my new monthly residency at Old Oak Tap that kicks off tonight with guest DJ Pocket Taco! Read all about it! See you there?

My Appleseed Valentine?

My Appleseed Valentine?

O.K., I'll admit it, I am seriously confused. The last time I really listened to The Appleseed Cast was waaaay back when I would actually talk to Deep Elm Records founder John Szuch on the phone semi-regularly because I loved his label so much ... and this was before he signed Triple fast Action! I dug Brandston's Mould-ish sheets of guitars, thought Muckafurgason was absolutely hilarious, and generally just dug about every band he brought on-board. (Please, before you freak out, keep in mind that while we called these bands emo at the time we had no idea what that phrase was going to turn into over the next 15 years.)

Anyway, The Appleseed Cast fit in the mold of most of his other bands and played serious minded but really melodic heavy rock. I had their first couple of albums and enjoyed the tracks I heard of their on various samplers, but pretty much lost track of them years ago. A few days ago their new album, Sagarmatha, shows up in my mailbox and whoah was I not prepared for what I heard after throwing it through my earbuds.

When did The Appleseed Cast go shoegaze?!

Now, I am NOT knocking this new direction of theirs nut I am wondering just how new it is? Has this been a long time coming and I'm only just know growing hip to it, or is this some sort of sudden lurch in a new direction? I mean, the guitar volume makes sense, but I don't remember their vocals ever lying under so much dreamy reverb nestled amongst epic length jams.

I like it!

They'll be at Bottom Lounge February 27, and I think I'm gonna try and catch them.

The Keene Act ... who watches The Watchmen?

The Keene Act ... who watches The Watchmen?

Consider this a PSA...

Disconnected.

Disconnected.

Hey, remember, like, two months ago when all I could write about were all the shows I was seeing and all the band I was shooting and the general topsy-turveyness of my social life and how it seemed like everything was just run eun run RUN RUN RUN?!

Remember?

Thank you, Midwestern winter and great freezedown, for turning me into a (relative) hermit.

But I say ENOUGH! That is going to change! Starting tomorrow ... 'cuz it's frickin' cold again today...

Ziggy remixed ... here's hoping it's decent!

Ziggy remixed ... here's hoping it's decent!

Honestly, I have little time to write this A.M. since I'm rushing to work to get some stuff done, but I just saw some DJs put up a David Bowie mash-up album online. I have zero idea if it's worth a listen, but it's Bowie, so I must link to it. Here's what the cover looks like.


DOWNLOAD: Ziggy Stardust Remixed

UPDATE: O.K., finally gave it a listen and I think it's pretty meh, but it does have it's moments. If you're a Bowie fan you'll probably want to still give it a listen. I wish they'd been a little more daring a la The Kleptones and not just popped Bowie vocals over single backing tracks. The one track that I think does work? The Pink Floyd "Pigs On A Wing" sampling "Soul Love (ATOM's Pink Innards Mix)."

Listen now! Watch now!

Listen now! Watch now!

The Mae Shi love Christian Bale's foul mouth (and I do too). Download their remix of his outburst.

And this is sure to be the next decade's Rick Roll ... you've been Bosscocked!

Analog Blog?

Analog Blog?

Hey, the second issue of The Printed Blog and I have two articles in it! They used my piece on Chia Pet and my musings on those winter blizzards that never seem to actually arrive. Download a copy. (Yes, I find it kind of amusing that is a link to a PDF of a printed paper whose material all originated online ... but I still think it's kind of cool!)

Also, if you live in Chicago and picked up a physical copy, can I have it? I didn't end up taking the Blue Line in so I didn't snag one for myself.

No, I was not in a Super Bowl ad...

No, I was not in a Super Bowl ad...

And, honestly I don't know what creeps me out more. Is it the fact some people have been telling me they think I look like the blonde dude in the ad, or is it just the generally skeezy way they're presenting Danica Patrick. I find both to be pretty unsettling.