“come on hide your lovers / underneath the covers”

So it seems like recently blogs all over the place have been blowing up with a huge treasure trove of cover songs. My Old Kentucky Blog has a bunch of posts that collect numerous covers (most awful, a few worth hearing) of a single song, so that’s not a bad place to start.

Here’s some MP3s I’ve found that you might be interested in:

-I am Fuel, You Are Friends (great name, especially seeing how PJ recently played “Leash” live for the first time in over a decade) posted a bunch of songs from animated movies, including some new songs from Ben Folds from the Under the Hedge OST. I won’t get started on my feelings about Mr. Folds in this post (in short, I think I’ve grown up while he’s gone even more childish) but the two notable songs are a new version of “Rockin’ the Suburbs” (with a bridge performed by Captain Kirk himself) and a cover of The Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket” that isn’t that bad considering it’s for a kid’s movie. She’s also got a link to a new Sonic Youth song so check that out too if you’re so inclined.

-Speaking of covers (and specifically, “Lost in the Supermarket”) here’s a link to one of my favorite covers of all time.

The Afghan Whigs – “Lost in the Supermarket”

I love how Dulli (whose new band The Twilight Singers put out a covers album called She Loves You that is essential listening) works in bits of “Train in Vain” and “Stand By Me” into something that stands on its own better than most covers (especially those from a tribute album, as this comes from the Burning London tribute to the Clash that came out on Epic a few years back.

-Speaking of The ‘Whigs, MOKB has a link to the band’s fantastic cover of TLC’s Creep. It’s down there on the bottom of the post.

iPod nation?

Here’s an interesting article about what’s on Hillary Clinton’s (as well as Condoleezza Rice’s and Dubya’s) iPod.

They’d all like that awful “Jack FM” radio format.

It was bound to happen

So tonight I was at Rudy’s, one of New Haven’s finest establishments and while in back enjoying a beer and The Buzzcocks’ “Orgasm Addict” on the jukebox a fellow patron asked “is this Bloc Party?” In a rare moment of rock snobbery (I try my best not to be an elitist), I laughed.

If you know “Orgasm Addict,” let me know that I’m not crazy to think that this case of mistaken identity is hilarious.

2 tangential thoughts: 1) I was amazed at how professional the Rudy’s website was. I didn’t know it existed until earlier tonight. 2) I personally prefer the ‘cocks “Ever Fallen In Love” myself.

Wilco on Conan

Here’s Wilco’s performance on Conan last Friday night (taped live in Chicago). The band played a new song (going by the name of “Is That the Thanks I Get?”). Thanks to YouTube, you can watch it here:

(EDIT: NBC poached this video 2 days later. It’s been gone forever.)

(EDIT: It’s back and I reposted it here!)

Isn’t technology cool?

Bad Idea

I don’t usually have much to say about the NBA, but the reports that the Knicks are going to buyout Larry Brown’s remaining 4 years on his contract suggest that the Knicks are about to make a big mistake.

I don’t really think that Brown is worth what he makes (or any NBA coach, for that matter) but the prospect of replacing him with Isiah Thomas is baffling, unless the Knicks figure that since Isiah already messed them up by trading away their draft picks, screwing up their salary cap number for years, and bringing in overpriced players with questionable reputation, he might as well complete the job and coach them into the ground.

I can’t be the only one who thinks that…

…Clerks II is going to be an awful movie. I watched the trailer online the other night (something I almost never do largely because I’m not interested in a lot of movies) and now I have zero desire to see the movie.

Aside from looking like an awful premise (haven’t we had enough movies about fast food hijinx?), the Clerks sequel suffers by being the latest in the declining line of Kevin Smith movies. Jay and Silent Bob was a stupid movie but forgivable in that it was supposed to be the farewell to its titular characters. Jersey Girl was horrible by any standards. Let’s not even talk about those tacky Panasonic commercials and clips for Leno. And Clerks II looks like it might be the worst of them all.

Here’s the link for the trailer on Yahoo. I hope you won’t be as disappointed as I am.

PS – What happened to Jay & Silent Bob being retired?

Spring Cleaning?

The hardest part of any routine is figuring out how to get started and this blog is certainly no exception. I find that as soon as I fall out of a regular routine for updates and other stuff that it becomes increasingly difficult to start writing again as time goes on. It just seems like I have more things to write about and less time to write about them.

Never fear, I’ve been re-inspired; I’ve upgraded the wireless internet here which in turn let me set up my own little area in my family’s back room. For the first time in a year I have a “desk” (where I have my stereo and laptop set up – the essentials you see) and therefore somewhere I can sit down to blog more often.

Here’s what’s been going on in my life / things I should mention from the last 4 months or so, presented in convenient list form:

- I will not be going into any MA/PhD programs for English in the fall because I didn’t get into any of the programs. I gradually realized during the period between the submission of the applications to the final grouping of letters that it wasn’t going to happen (study for your GREs, kids!) so I wasn’t as shocked as I expected to be.

- I will be going into some kind of program to become a high school teacher though. I have applications out to two different schools in CT, an unofficial verbal acceptance from one and I expect to get into the other. Both will lead to a masters degree (MAT) in roughly two calendar years albeit through slightly different routes. The only other thing I’ll say about it is that I’m a bit excited at the prospect of going back to school and pursuing this career.

- I don’t think I mentioned it in my previous rants (I think I was saving it) but I’ve had XM Radio since Christmas and I love it. There’s plenty of music to choose from (my favorites being the alternative rock channels Fred (pre-Nirvana), Ethel (post-Nirvana) and Lucy (“alternative rock hits” and the funniest station promos) and I really dig the sports content too – ESPN Radio and lots of MLB games and talk shows. I never listen to regular radio (save for Mets games on WFAN when I’m in decent range, simply because the XM broadcasts are 15-20 seconds behind).

- Megan and I went to Chicago about a month ago and we had a fun time. It’s an excellent city with tons of stuff to do (pizza, improve comedy, and baseball for starters) and is certainly worth a repeat trip.

- Let’s see what new music I can recommend to you… the live iTunes download of Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeing Sinister is excellent (as is their most recent album The Live Pursuit). Otherwise I’m either behind in stuff to listen to (the new Liars, Gnarls Barkley, and Pearl Jam records for starters) or simply underwhelmed by a lot of albums (Flaming Lips and Built to Spill in particular).

- I’m not going to say anything about the Mets yet aside from the fact that I’ve been watching/listening to almost every game so far this season. Every time I’m ready to make a declaration about the state of the team something new comes around and makes me reconsider, so I’ll give it a few more weeks.

OK, that’s about it for tonight. I simply wanted to declare my renewed dedication. I’m going to update the links on the page with a bunch of sites that I check out on a semi-regular basis right now and I’ll look to write something new in a few days.

BW