The Five

NANTUCKET: U2 has got a new remastered/expanded version of The Joshua Tree out, and Pete over at IckMusic is giving away a free copy of the deluxe edition (2 CD/DVD) to the winner of his U2 limerick contest here. Just don't make it better than mine!

FEATS: It’s Festivus season, so go here and pick yourself up a Festivus pole! (thanks, Pop Candy)

SHOT: The Smithsonian Magazine photo contest is underway, photogs – go show ‘em what you’ve got, and enter here

AXES: Blender salutes the “28 Most Recognizable Guitars” right here

JOEL: This interesting video has matched up the appropriate photographs to the historical events mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" - it's a good time-killer for a Friday

New Marah

Marah’s new album, Angels of Destruction, is dropping January 8th, but you can stream the whole album at Yep Roc Records here. And Stereogum has got a download of one of the tracks, “Coughing Up Blood," in a post here. I’m pretty underwhelmed at that one track, so hopefully the rest of the album is better. Anyway, you can get your someone special something nice this holiday and pre-order them a copy of Angels of Destruction here. And yeah, Marah’s will be coming to DC on February 7th –they’ll be playing the 9:30 Club, though I prefer the cozier confines of IOTA.

Jimi

Happy Birthday, Jimi. Now watch him solo on "Hey Joe" with his teeth.

A Little Daughtry

All day at work, Daughtry’s song “Over You” has been stuck on repeat in my head. I’ll admit, it’s a pretty damn catchy slice of modern rock, with that chorus slamming into you like a hooky Mack truck. So now that I’m finally home, guess what I’m listening to?

MP3: Over You - Daughtry

photo credit: Danny Clinch

Be Like Dr. J. Robert Cade

Dr. J. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade died Tuesday of kidney failure. I drink way too much of his creation, but let us raise a plastic bottle of lemon-lime and honor the man. (thanks, CC)

The Samples

I felt like turning the clock on this post with a couple of my favorite tracks from The Samples’ The Last Drag (1993). I first got introduced to The Samples back in college, and this CD still sounds good. It’s a great album from top to bottom (my favorite kind), featuring Sean Kelly’s ethereal voice over top of dreamy pop-rock arrangements.

“Little Silver Ring” (track 1) was actually the first song I ever heard by The Samples, and those catchy harmonies and arrangements had me at hello.

However, my favorite track still remains the sweeping “The Streets In The Rain.” I love the beautiful melancholy of its wistful lyrics, and it swells to an excellent chorus that sadly only gets a full run-through only once.

MP3: The Streets In The Rain – The Samples
MP3: Little Silver Ring – The Samples

John Waite/Alison Krauss "Missing You" Duet

Even though I think it was done awhile ago, I just found this duet remake of John Waite's "Missing You" as a duet with him and Alison Krauss. Interesting.

T-Giving

That was one excellent Thanksgiving dinner, NOAAgirl! Good times, and good people - well done!

A Case of the Fridays

This year has really flown by, and now it’s time to gorge your faces, kids. But don’t be afraid to go out and listen to some music later in the week. First up we’ve got the indie pop of Maritime’s “For Science Fiction.” I really dig how it explodes into ultra-catchy choruses full of punchy, layered guitars. And the fuzzed-out keyboard sounds provide a nice little touch, fitting for the song title . If you like what you hear, they’ll be at the Rock and Roll Hotel this Saturday, November 24th. Bring ‘em your leftovers.

MP3: For Science Fiction – Maritime

And to wrap up the week we’ve got Ben Lee’s “What Would Jay-Z Do?” Beyonce, most likely. But I digress. Anyway, the track is sugary pop and goes down nice and smooth, with all the harmonies and backing vocals in their perfect places. It’s almost easy the clever lyrics about HOVA. You can catch Ben Lee Tuesday, November 26th at the Birchmere.

MP3: What Would Jay-Z Do? – Ben Lee

Threefer

KATZ: Looks like the complete series of one of my favorite animated series, Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, is now available on DVD – check some video here

FIZZY: Now I didn’t get to sample the Jones Soda Holiday Edition packs, but Whitney over at Pop Candy did a tasting of both the Christmas and Chanukah packs, and gave a pretty funny review of the flavors here

DMB: Dave Matthews discusses forgetting lyrics, guitar technique, and a new guitar riff that would become “Round and Round” in this video here

The Sketches' "Pieces" Video

I like the soarings vocals and indie pop/rock of local DC band The Sketches (soaring vocals) - and I just noticed that they've got a new music video out for their track "Pieces." It's pretty cool stuff. You can visit their MySpace site here - http://www.myspace.com/thesketches

Threefer

I LIKE!: Who doesn’t want a call from Borat?

RUSH: Like Neil Peart? So does Chester Cheetoh, in an extreme way - Watch this hilarious Family Guy clip here (thanks, Pete)

DAPPER: I had been curious about what the Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings sounded like – and coincidentally, Aquarium Drunkard just posted a couple of tracks from their new CD here – I’m digging the retro-soul sound of “100 Days, 100 Nights”

Around The Horn

HOVA & MORE: Pretty Much Amazing has got some cool stuff up - I'm liking the Jay-Z/Beatles mashup track (from the Gray Album) he's got up here - and he's got a remix of Fall Out Boy's "Arms Race" that features Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and a slew of others here

MATTY: Matt Nathanson's got an official video (that they're supposedly playing on VH1) of "Car Crash," my favorite song off of his new album - you can check it here

DIRE: I'm digging the live 1979 recording of Dire Straits' "Wild West End" (from a show in Holland) that Pete from IckMusic has got up over here

BITTERSWEET: Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has got the live tracks from The Verve show at the Empress Ballroom on November 6th, 2007 over here (as well as a contest)

Humpback Whale: It's What's For Dinner

According to the Associated Press, Japan's government fisheries reports that its whaling fleet will be leaving port this Sunday for its biggest-ever scientific whale hunt in the South Pacific. The whalers have orders to kill up to 50 humpback whales — the first known large-scale hunt for the species since a 1963 moratorium put humpbacks under international protection.

The Fisheries Agency's whaling chief, Hideki Moronuki, claims that “killing whales lets marine biologists study their internal organs - ovaries provide vital clues to reproductive systems, earwax indicates age, and stomach contents reveal eating habits.” Coincidentally, the IWC allows meat from Japan's "scientific" catch is allowed to be sold commercially, but, Japanese officials deny that profit and the of the continuation whaling industry and the is the true goal.

Didn’t these guys watch Star Trek IV?

Use Your Vocabulary For Good (Not Evil)

Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends turned me onto this site - Free Rice. Simply put, you answer progressively harder vocabulary questions, with each correct answer resulting in a 10-grain donation of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. It's quite addictive, and it's for a good cause, so go see what you can do!

Threefer

YUCK: Even a restaurant that serves $25,000 desserts and $1,000 sundaes isn’t immune from health code violations – Serendipity 3, a popular Manhattan eatery, was shut down by health inspectors after failing its second inspection within a month – cockroaches and mice were involved

RUSH: Thrill-seekers should love the rush of this “sport” that’s essentially a combination of base-jumping and gliding like a flying squirrel off of cliffs – check the video here.

KISS: Gene Simmons makes some very good points about the current state of the music industry in an interview here

A Case of the Fridays

There’s a big hip-hop show coming to town this Sunday, November 18th, at the 9:30 Club, featuring Ghostface and Rakim, so a it’s a double-shot today - one new track, and one old-school. First up is “Barrell Brothers” from Ghostface’s The Big Doe Rehab. It’s got driving, hard-edged rhymes to match its overdriven synth samples. Take a listen.

MP3: Barrell Brothers – Ghostface f/ Beanie Sigel & Styles

And now we go back to 1997 for Rakim’s “The 18th Letter.” He drops his effortless delivery over top of a sparse, soulful R&B groove. Take a listen.

MP3: The 18th Letter - Rakim

Threefer

COUNTDOWN: Better hope those television writers stop striking and start writing, cause there might not be many new episodes of your favorite shows left in the vaults - you can see what’s left here

HUH?: Arjewtino takes on Yahoo Answers himself here, with suitably chuckle-arious results

SPARKS: Berg Loves Pizza has got an MP3 of “No Air,” a new track from American Idol Jordin Sparks (f/ Chris Brown) in his most recent post here (along with a couple other tasty songs by various artists)

Jones Soda - Holiday Editions

You know me – I love me some Jones Soda. And once again, Jones Soda has gone all holiday on us, releasing both a Christmas-themed pack, as well as a Hanukkah-themed pack of specialty soda flavors.

The Christmas pack will include Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham flavors. The Hanukkah pack will have Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas. Looking forward to some Jelly Doughnut!

Go get ‘em here.

Let Down, Reggae-Style

I've been listening to Radiohead's "OK Computer" recently, and "Let Down," has been the track I've been obsessed with as of late. I just came across this reggae cover of it by the Easy Star All-Stars, and it's pretty damn good! Different, but good - the important thing is that the harmonies and backing vocals are still there...

The Goo Goo Dolls Greatest Hits

Yeah, The Goo Goo Dolls are my guilty pleasure, and they’re releasing a greatest hits album tomorrow, Greatest Hits Volume One – The Singles. Which, of course, implies there will be a Volume Two, the B-Sides, or something to that extent. Anyway, I’ll at least be purchasing Volume One, since I won’t be able to resist an album chock-full of ultra-catchy, well-arranged pop rock gems.

MP3: Black Balloon – The Goo Goo Dolls
MP3: Without You Here – The Goo Goo Dolls

Army Of Me

I hadn't realized that Army of Me had put together a video for their track "Going Through Changes." It's a good song, although I do think their track "Pefect" would have been a better first single, since I think it's aptly titled...

Threefer

DIET: Here’s one week’s worth of food in pictures, for different families around the planet – this is very interesting (thanks, CC)

Q-RATING: EW.com goes into Bondage, ranking all sorts of things about 007 here

STRIKE: Yeah, there’s a Hollywood writers strike, but don’t worry, your favorite TV shows will be fine – your producers will be able to handle the dialogue just like this Cracked video

Angels & Airwaves

I had been curious about the second album (I-Empire) from Tom DeLonge's post Blink-182 band, Angels & Airwaves. And conveniently, Pretty Much Amazing has posted a nice little review along with a few tracks right here. Of the three available tracks, "Sirens" is the standout for me.

Buy Yourself A Six-Pack

Tired of working out to create those six-pack abs? Why not purchase them instead? Apparently abdominal etching is becoming quite popular, and for somewhere between $4K and $7K, you can buy yourself a very expensive sixer.

Got Drums?

We were talking about drummer Buddy Rich last night at band practice. And although I've heard of him, I'd never heard him play before. Pete was kind enough to send me this clip of him cutting heads with Ed Shaughnessy on Johnny Carson. Pretty crazy stuff.

NFL Stadium Rankings

SI.com compiled ratings and reviews of all the NFL stadiums here, basing the rankings on combined overall scores in seven categories - tickets, food & souvenirs, accessibility, tailgating, team, stadium atmosphere, and neighborhood. Uh, Daniel Snyder, I noticed that Fedex Field is ranked 28th (out of 32) – I think RFK Stadium is still available…

"Mercy Street" Cover

I just randomly came upon this pretty crazy cover of Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" by an artist named Happy Rhodes. It's very cool - Check out her vocal range!

Election Day, Pro Bowl Style

Yup, folks, it's time to make your Pro Bowl selections, so go vote here. Of course, most selected players do what they can to avoid actually playing in the thing, and frankly, the game itself usually sucks. But it's always good to see that "Pro-Bowler" as an adjective in front of your favorite player's name.

Threefer

DESIGN: MIT says Frank Gehry’s firm, Gehry Partners, provided a flawed design (leaks, mold, etc.) for the very cool and unique-looking Stata Center – and they’re filing suit.

BLOGOSPHERE: Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has got some nice live Pearl Jam tracks from her first PJ concert ever back from 11/4/95 here, and a downloadable MP3 of the new Damnwells track, "The Bastard of Midnight" here

NEW WU: The new Wu-Tang album, 8 Diagrams, is dropping on 12/11, but you can get a sneak peak at it with the 8 Diagrams Mixtape on loud.com here

Local Mix / Not Here Anymore

This weekend I wrapped up my November CD mix, “My Favorite Local Tracks of All-Time” - or some title to that extent. Anyway, it was kind of sad to note that there were quite a few tracks on there by bands that don’t exist anymore, but I’ve provided them to you below. There’s a nice range of songs, from the groovy and bluesy “Circle” and “Evil Eye,” to the rootsy pop of “Friday Night Lights,” and the alt-country pop of “Gone,” and the gorgeous rock ballad “Call My Name.”

MP3: Call My Name – Jonasay
MP3: Evil Eye – Band of Blue
MP3: Gone – Carroway
MP3: Friday Night Fights – Worrystones
MP3: Circle – Less Traveled

The Lives of Others

Wow - I've been waiting awhile to see The Lives of Others, the 2006 Academy Award-winner for best foreign film, and it most definitely did not disappoint me. It's a very gripping drama/suspense set in mid-80s East Germany. The paranoia and constant threat of surveillance is almost palpable in this extremely well-acted and well-written movie. I highly recommend it, especially if you'd like to brush up on your German!

The Daybreak Line @ IOTA 11/1/07

I checked out The Daybreak Line's last show last night at IOTA. I couldn't miss my one chance to catch the live version of "Bleeding Hearts!"