Acoustic "Golden Days"

Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has got The Damnwells' acoustic version of "Golden Days" that appears in the trailer for their movie of the same name right here.

Live Pink Floyd - 6/18/75

For you Pink Floyd fans out there, Jefitoblog has got a pretty cool post of a live Boston Gardens show from June 18th, 1975 here. It's even got "Echoes" in the set - nice.

Secret Black Cat Show

Yeah, that secret MySpace show that's going on at Black Cat tonight? Good Charlotte and Army of Me. DCist has the details here.

New Maroon 5

Though I'm not the biggest Maroon 5 fan, I know some of you are. So for those of you, Idolator's got a leak of their new track, "Makes Me Wonder" here. It's got some bounce, I must admit.

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A Case of the Fridays

Well, for me, Friday couldn’t have gotten here quickly enough to put an end to this tiring week. So no hesitating - we kick things off with “Carolina,” by Matt Wertz. It’s a catchy folk-pop number, pulled along by Wertz’s soulful vocals and a nice little infusion of mandolin. If you’re liking what you’re hearing, check him out at the 9:30 Club this Friday, 3/30/07.

MP3: Carolina – Matt Wertz

And then we close things out with Kristoffer Ragnstam’s “Breakfast By The Mattress.” Easily one of my favorite song titles ever, by the way. It’s quirky and funky herky-jerky indie pop, but it comes together in the choruses, and you’ll end up singing along. He’ll be in town this Sunday, April 1st, at IOTA. Seriously.

MP3: Breakfast By The Mattress – Kristoffer Ragnstam

Broken Up Monopoli

Local indie rockers, Monopoli, will be playing their last show together as a band tonight at DC9 for one last hurrah. And Joe over at Instrumental Analysis has a couple of their MP3s up for you to check out.

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New Office Video

You've gotta wait for your next fix of The Office until April 5th. But in the meantime, check out this new video montage/preview to get ready...

New Butch Walker

FYI: I just found out that Butch Walker has a new project, the band 1969. You can take a listen to them at their MySpace page here.

Star Wars Stamps

Star Wars stamps. Coming to a galaxy near you May 25th. They're the only good thing about the increase in the postage rate to 41 cents.

Idol Hands

Why not? A little American Idol review just because I feel like it. Unfortunately, the contestants aren't in order...

La Kisha: Oh, it was good, but I’ll take Doolittle…

Chris Sligh: A passable Sting impersonation, if Sting ate at Sizzler for a few months and for some reason kept jumping the gun on his song cues…

Gina Glocksen: Finally - she didn’t scream! And she dug into a good, emotional version of The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You." Nice.

Melinda Doolittle: Her voice is like warm melted chocolate…

Jordin Sparks: A very odd song choice, with “ Hey, Baby,” coupled with her looking like a big understudy from “Heidi: The Musical” didn’t do her any favors.

Phil Stacey: He's still a freak, but he really nailed "Every Breath You Take" this week. One of the top two vox this show, along with Doolittle.

Haley Scarnato: Did a passable cruise ship version of “True Colors” while looking for the rest of her skirt.

Sanjaya: Uhhh...please throw the Sanjaya out with the “Bathwater.”

Chris Richardson: His “Don’t Speak” was aight, I guess, but I’m waiting for him to bust out a vocal distorter and rip into “Sexyback.”

Blake Lewis: Boring. Should have at least borrowed Robert Smith’s make-up artist.

Butch Walker

FYI, Butch Walker rocked the f*ck out Sunday night at the 9:30 Club, complete with laser light show. The band was extremely tight, and Butch's vocals were top-notch. And the band even did a Bruce-worthy cover of "Born to Run" as one of their encores. I was also pleasantly surprised by one of the opening acts, The Honorary Title. I really dug their performance - strong vocals, good arrangements - and I picked up their most recent CD.

MP3: When Canyons Ruled the City - Butch Walker

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Bodies: The Exhibition

A very revealing show will be coming to the old Newseum facility in Rosslyn. Bodies: The Exhibition begins April 14th, and provides an amazing study on the human anatomy, using polymer-preserved human bodies. Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.

Bluegrass Super Freak

I've never heard a bluegrass version of Rick James' "Super Freak" before. But Bruce Hornsby, Ricky Skaggs, and John Anderson did it. It's a little...freaky.

Happy Steve McQueen Day!

It's Steve McQueen Day all weekend in his hometown of Slater, Missouri. So go watch Bullitt or The Great Escape a bunch of times!

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Lil Jon's Guinness Bling

Yeah, that’s a whole lotta bling that Lil Jon’s got there. In fact, he’s set the Guinness World Record for “Largest Diamond Pendant,” with this $500K, 73 total-carat monster! What do you think the resale value of that bad boy is?

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What Would Vick Say?

My gosh, this purely hypothetical conversation between Michael Vick and Falcons-owner Arthur Blank had me cracking up! And this other one of Michael Vick's thoughts about the mall - hilarious!

Bart Simpson's Chalkboard

Here's a "medley" of all 119 of Bart's chalkboard gags from The Simpsons, seasons 1-8.

A Case of the Fridays

Friday is upon us, folks, and it’s time to enjoy those warm temperatures this weekend. Or stay in and watch the NCAA’s. Either way, the music still goes on, beginning with “Broken Arm,” by Winterpills. Philip Price and Flora Reed’s voices intertwine perfectly to create a beautiful, haunting sound in this shimmering little pop gem. If you like what you hear, Winterpills will be at IOTA this Saturday, March 24th.

MP3: Broken Arm - Winterpills

And we close out this week with some Butch Walker. He’s back in town this weekend, bringing his rocking, glam-tinged band, The Let’s Go Out Tonites with him. “When Canyons Ruled The City” is a swaggering, majestic album-closer of a track – one that you can definitely raise your lighter to while singing along with the “nah-nah’s” in the chorus. Butch Walker will be in town this Sunday, March 25th at the 9:30 Club.

MP3: When Canyons Ruled The City – Butch Walker

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A Little Indie

*The Hold Steady are releasing a limited-run five track acoustic EP, Live at Fingerprints, on April 17th. And in the meantime, you can check out their new video for "Stuck Between Stations" here. I like this song.

*For you fans of The National (and you Washington Nationals fans, too, why not), Stereogum's got "Fake Empire" from their upcoming album, Boxer, here.

Cereal of the 80s

Are you feeling sentimental about the cereal you used to eat back in the day? Do you get a tear in your eye when you think about how you just can't get good C3PO's these days? Then go check and see if your favorite 80s cereal is listed on the Cereal of the 80s website. My oldschool favorite, Most, was actually listed!

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Yoshimi - The Musical?

According to Flaming Lips lead singer, Wayne Coyne, the group will be working with tv-guru Aaron Sorkin to turn their 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots into a Broadway musical. Check out a pretty trippy video for the track "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1" here.

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The Winnebango

If you watched How I Met Your Mother this week, you might want to check out this extended scene where Barney does a second top ten list of potential names for his truck.

Trey Solo

Alright, I haven't actually posted any songs for awhile. So I'm going to post one that's got one of my favorite guitar solos of all time. It's a live recording of "Push On Til The Day," by the Trey Anastasio Band at the Warfield from 5/30/03. Yeah, it's a long song (over 11 minutes), but around 4:39, Trey rips into a solo that soars, speeds, and rocks. And the rest of the song is quite good, too - funky like that, with horns.

MP3: Push On Through The Day - Trey Anastasio Band

YouTube 2006 Video Awards

Yeah, YouTube owner Google has been sued for a billion dollars by Viacom. But why worry when you can party it up and have the YouTube 2006 Video Awards. Go vote on your favorites here.

On The Cover Of Rolling Stone

As per the Rolling Stone website, it looks like my favorite band, Pink Floyd, will be gracing the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. The mag will be featuring a big retrospective and stuff on PF - most likely it won't be anything I haven't read before, but I definitely want a copy. And apparently the Rolling Stone website will be featuring little goodies and teasers this week before the issue hits the stands Friday. Like these clips from a sync-up of Dark Side of the Moon and "The Wizard of Oz."

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Elliott Smith Live Covers

Over this week, Dave at The Rawking Refuses To Stop will be posting a compilation of Elliott Smith's live covers. And in his first post here, he's starts with Elliot Smith's various Beatles covers...

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Eat Fish

For those of you who like to eat a bit of seafood, this website is pretty cool - it goes over which types of seafood are fished or farmed in "environmentally friendly" ways. And you can drill down on each type of seafood to learn more about it.

thanks to Lady Brett for the tip

Good Charlotte

While reading this morning's Washington Post Magazine, and I came across a pretty cool article on Good Charlotte - what they've been up to, their origins, troubled past, etc. You can check it out here, as long as you sign in with the Washington Post first, of course. I'm also digging their new track, "The River," from their upcoming CD. You can stream it at their MySpace site here.

Modernism

The “Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1936” exhibit is now open at the Corcoran. So get up, put on something modern, and go take a look before it ends on July 29th.

Marah's Round Eye Blues

I haven't seen Marah in concert for awhile, so I figured I'd post this rocking version of "Round Eye Blues," taken from a show in Nottingham.

What Color Is Your Food?

The color of our food often plays a large role in how in how we perceive its taste. Slate.com has an interesting little article on the logistics of using artificial colors/dyes, vs. natural stuff, and how we relate certain colors with certain flavors. Yeah, I've probably been watching a little too much Food Network recently...

St. Patty's Day Music Selections

Yep, more poster art - can you dig it? Anyway, it's gonna be St. Patrick's Day this weekend, and it might not be 70 degrees. But that doesn't mean you should stay inside and ignore a couple of quality gigs that'll be going on March 17th. Me? I'll be picking up someone special at Dulles International. But if I wasn't, I'd be hitting one of these shows...Wes Tucker & The Skillets are playing with IOTA. And Hotspur and Welbilt are teaming up to rock TT Reynolds.

Public Enemy vs. Nelly Furtado

I think I'm digging the Public Enemy/Nelly Furtado mashup of "Bring the Noise" and "Say It Right" that ChazOlogy has up over here. Gotta love the power of that Timbaland rhythm track, regardless.

A Case of the Fridays

We’ve got a very green weekend coming up, but unfortunately, these 70-degree temperatures aren’t sticking around. Regardless, we kick things off with “Chaos,” by Mute Math. The song title is pretty accurate, as the choruses of this pop prog-rocker frenetically jump around, both lyrically and sonically, with wild abandon. However, the verses soar majestically, providing a peaceful yin to the chorus’ energetic yang. If you like what you hear, Mute Math will be at the 9:30 Club Monday, March 19th.

MP3: Chaos – Mute Math

And we close out the week with a live selection from Pete Yorn, with “Crystal Village.” It’s a nice catchy slice of Americana. Yorn starts off with just his acoustic guitar, but is gradually joined by additional electric guitarists and vocalists, adding layer upon layer to eventually reach a nice crescendo. If you like what you hear, Pete Yorn will be playing two shows at the 9:30 Club, Tuesday, March 20th and Wednesday, March 21st.

MP3: Crystal Village - Pete Yorn

Prison Art

My friend just showed me this website...

www.prisonart.org

I think that the web address is pretty self-explanatory. But there are some pretty interesting pieces on there, like this amazing graphite Ray Charles by Jack Waldrop. And no, I don't know what he's in for.

New Linkin Park / What I've Done

The other day I posted how I was anxiously awaiting the new Linkin Park album. And coincidentally, we now get a chance to hear a 30-second snippet of the first single, "What I've Done." Not bad...

Band Poster Art

In my internet ramblings I came across the website for Todd Slater, a graphic artist who designs band posters. Very cool band posters, if I do say so myself. Definitely check them out at his website here, and if you like what you see, you can even purchase 'em.

Free Coffee @ Starbucks Today, 10-12

I don't even like coffee, but I care about my readers. And I'm guessing a bunch of them like to drink more than their share of coffee. Anyway, Starbucks is offering a free 12 oz. cup per person between 10am and noon today. Go stick it to the man!

How Funky Can Your One Stars Be?

Converse lets you customize your own pair of One Stars at their website here. So go ahead with your bad self, get a little funky, and see what you can come up with.

Thanks to PopCandy for the tip

Live Bonnaroo Downloads

I've never actually been to a Bonnaroo Festival before, but now I can get that Bonnaroo experience at home. Or those of you who were there can now relive it. The folks at Bonnaroo are offering downloads of artist-approved high-fidelity, mastered, multi-track recordings from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 shows. For a price, of course. Check it out here.

Be A "National Treasure 2" Extra

Due to overwhelming (?) demand, Jerry Bruckheimer will be producing a sequel to National Treasure, naturally titled, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Is is necessary? Who knows. But don't worry kids, Nicolas Cage will be reprising his leading role. More importantly, filming will be taking place in Washington, DC. And they're doing an open casting call for 2,500 extras on Monday, March 19th, at McFadden's (24th & Pennsylvania). So get out there before Antonella Barba beats you to it!

Live R.E.M.

I'm not a huge R.E.M. fan, but for those of you who are, Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has a cool post of a soundboard-quality 10/29/2003 show at the Avalon here.

Whoa, Lily

EW.com has got an interesting Q&A with the bold Lily Allen here. Too bad you can't hear her Cockney accent in print...

DCist Exposed Photography Show

Yeah, I put this up too late in order for you to make the opening reception, but don't let that discourage you from hitting the show one night after work this week!

Some Travis

Chris over at Music of the Moment has posted a video of "Closer," a gorgeous single from Travis' upcoming new album, here. Yes, the video is set in a supermarket, yet it's strangely hypnotic - and it includes a cameo from an actor you just might recognize...

"I Just Love To Rent Guns"

This "Don's Guns" ad is a bit crazy.

Idol Fix

It's getting down to crunchtime on American Idol (yeah, I'm a big fan). So get your Idol fix in before Tuesday and check out some Q&As with the 12 finalists here.

A Few Questions With The Donald

Say what you will about Donald Trump, but he's a pretty interesting dude. In this interview with Fortune he answered reader questions, and I'm willing to listen/read when he discusses real estate. Frankly, I'd rather read it than watch The Apprentice.

How Springfield Is Your Springfield?

Various Springfields across the US are competing for the honor of hosting the premier screening of the "The Simpsons Movie" in July. So whaddya think? Is your Springfield Springfield enough?

Jeter Show on Friday

Just one last reminder that my band, Jeter, will be playing at Bistro Europa in Old Town Alexandria with The Strohs this Friday. We'll be going on around 9:30, so come hang out and hear some live music.

New My Chemical Romance Video

My Chemical Romance has got a new video for their power ballady track "I Don't Love You," yet another fine track from The Black Parade album.

New Linkin Park

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to hearing what the new Rick Rubin-produced Linkin Park album, Minutes to Midnight, sounds like. Anyway, we finally have a release date (May 15th) for the record, as well as for the first single (April 2nd), which is cool. Meanwhile, EW.com has got a interesting little interview with Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson about the album here.

Jimmy Page Is Coming To Save Rock N' Roll!

Well, at least his riff is.

According to this article in The Onion, an "unreleased Jimmy Page riff is to be retrieved from a secret vault to save rock n' roll." Oh, it's a fun read.

-thanks to PopCandy for the tip

2007 Six Points Music Festival Line Up

The fourth annual Six Points Music Festival, scheduled to take place from April 12 through April 21, will showcase over 40 performers at venues throughout the Washington, D.C. Metro area. Performers include Detroit's The Singles, Chicago's The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, New York's The Lisps, Pittsburgh's Black Tie Revue, Durham's Red Collar, Baltimore's Two If By Sea and numerous local favorites such as: Middle Distance Runner, These United States, and The Hard Tomorrows. The full line up is available on the festival's official web site: www.sixpointsmusicfestival.com.

The Six Points Music Festival is non-profit organization co-sponsored by MetroMusicScene.com and the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA). The purpose of the festival is to showcase the DC area's many varied establishments and performers. In addition to concerts, Six Points will also host a series of information panels and other activities linked to promoting independent music and the DC scene.

How Many Nations...

Do you think you know your nations of the world? Put it to the test here, and see how many of the 192 United Nations member states you can name in 10 minutes. It's pretty cool. I'll just say that I named less than Zach, who tipped me off about this quiz.

I'm Mike Jones!

You wanna hear some new Mike Jones? Idolator has a leak of the new track, "Like What I Got," from Mike Jones' upcoming album, The American Dream, here. You can always count on him name-checking himself a bunch...but it's such an irresistibly good time.

Jeter Show, 3/9/07

I just wanted to let y'all know that my band, Jeter, has got a show this Friday, March 9th, upstairs at Bistro Europa in Old Town Alexandria. We'll be opening for our friends, The Strohs, around 9:30. Bistro Europa's got a cool vibe, plus it's metro-accessible, so come out, and bring your friends. No cover!

MP3: Make It - Jeter