This week's late night TV lineup

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Tuesday - Carbon/Silicon
• Wednesday - The Bravery

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Wednesday - Brett Dennen

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Tuesday - Cat Power
• Thursday - Paddy Casey
• Friday - Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige

Catching up rapid-fire style

- New Pete Yorn track with Mexican band Kinky thanks to I am fuel.

- Same blog, different band. The Kooks cover Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks".

- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks performs three songs in studio for Minnesota Public Radio. You betcha!

- Death Cab for Cutie's new single "I Will Possess Your Heart" from their upcoming album Narrow Stairs out May 13th courtesy of Ultra 8201.

- Cat Power's Black Session tracks from French radio's France Inter are available on Aquarium Drunkard. Just make sure you don't listen to these under a ladder.

- Peter Moren's (from Peter Bjorn & John fame) solo effort The Last Tycoon is out April 8th and the first single "Social Competence" is available for your ears on Let's Sexy Fighting.

- New Birdmonster track "I Might Have Guessed" had it's coming out party at SXSW. Thanks to the Music Slut.

- More from SXSW. Jim James and M. Ward give us a little acoustic love and Aquarium Drunkard has it zipped up nice and neat like.

- Muse's HAARP DVD/CD is out April 1 and will be screened in a handful of cities. Ultra 8201 has the dates.

- R.E.M. covers the Editors for BBC's Radio 1. Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso for the video.

I found out why Irish eyes are always smiling

The first time I ventured to Ireland, I did so with a bad case of pneumonia. I spent much of my five days there asleep or wishing I would just up and die. While I wouldn’t consider myself a complete booze hound, when I made plans to go there I dreamt of sipping Guinness and whiskey where it was the freshest. Not so much. Five days, two sips of alcohol… not my idea of a good time.

So leading up to this trip, I popped extra vitamins and stayed away from anyone who coughed, sneezed or even looked remotely sick. That proved to be effective as I was as health as I could possibly be when we landed. And my plan was to make up for all of the drinking I didn’t do the first time I was in Ireland. Ding ding – game on!

It took all of 30 minutes for us to have beers in hand. 8am local time (4am eastern time) to be more precise - a good way to start the trip. Over the next six days we schlepped around the country in a tour bus with 40-some other people. Dublin, the Blarney Stone, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher – Ireland is truly a beautiful country. And in between all of that tourist stuff, we managed to throw back a few brews and shots of whiskey. All in all, very productive.

I feel that after a week in Ireland, I’m pretty much a connoisseur of Irish stouts. And I’m here to tell you that there is a little known one that takes the cake. Below is my official updated ranking of Irish stouts. Write this shit down:

1. Beamish
2. Murphy's
3. Guinness
   

As far as Irish whiskey goes, Tullamore Dew (a.k.a. the mother’s milk) still reigns supreme. I brought back a bottle of their 12-year-old blend, so if you're in the area stop on by for a drink.

This week's late night TV lineup

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno
. Wednesday - Jose Gonzalez

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien
. Wednesday - Bjork
. Thursday - Ghostland Observatory

Late Show w/David Letteman
. Tuesday - The Raveonettes

Went to Ireland for a Guinness...

Valium fortified water - coming to a tap near you

While not completely surprising, this is still kind of scary. And unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do about it.

An Associated Press investigation found drugs in the drinking water of 24 major metro areas. From antibiotics to pain meds to steroids to hormones... man, you don't even need a doctor to get this stuff anymore! Just pour yourself a tall glass of tap water. Problem is you don't know whether you'll get some relief from that nagging back pain, or grow yourself a nice set of cans. Mmmmm, cans.

This week's late night TV lineup

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Tuesday - Drive-By Truckers
• Wednesday - Snoop Dogg

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Monday - Shiny Toy Guns

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Tuesday - Snoop Dogg
• Wednesday - British Sea Power

Hooray Friday!

- Check out Wilco on SNL performing “Hate It Here” last week thanks to Brooklyn Vegan. This week, Vampire Weekend.

- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks fans rejoice! Aquarium Drunkard has nine live tracks from a January concert in Portland.

- The Artic Monkeys and Rascals collide and the result is The Last Shadow Puppets. Check out the live version of Alex Turner and Miles Kane’s side project, “The Age of the Understatement” at I am fuel.

- Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails to headline Lollapalooza? That’s what the word on the street is. Thanks to BV.

- Beck covers Of Montreal’s “Wraith Pinned to the Mist”. Listen to it courtesy of You Ain’t No Picasso.

- Cat Power Black Session recorded at a French radio station in January is now available on Sixeyes.

Jose Gonzalez - Sixth & I Synagogue (3/5/2008)

Jose Gonzalez is an amazing musician - hands down. Just listen to his albums and you'll swear there's more than one person playing guitar. And let's not forget his voice, which compliments the music so well. Back in 2006, Metro D saw him at the Black Cat and had issues with crowd noise. Last year homie played the 9:30 Club (available to stream on NPR), which I can't imagine. While not a large venue, it is big enough to dwarf him and does not seem his style at all. I mean it's only Jose on stage and he sits in a chair for the entire concert.

Even more reason why I thought Sixth & I Synagogue would be perfect for him. I'd never been, but how big and overwhelming can a place of worship be? With a capacity of about 500 (best guess) and an atmosphere that almost forces people to just sit down, shut up and listen, he could have owned the place. Instead, he just borrowed it for an hour and 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong the music was great, but the performance was average. Mainly because he didn't interact with the audience... at all. A few hellos, some thank yous and one or two song introductions. Other than that he whipped through the setlist, came back for an encore and got the hell out of Dodge. But again it's only him up there, so if people expected anything more, then they're not the sharpest tools.

On a side note, I made a rather interesting discovery - complimentary copies of the below magazine were available throughout the synagogue. I kid you not. I did at least a double-take (probably a triple) when I first saw it. Get your subscription here.

This week's late night TV lineup

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Wednesday - Willie Nelson
• Thursday - Herbie Hancock
• Friday - The Hives

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Kate Nash
• Friday - Les Savy Fav

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Monday - Chuck Prophet
• Tuesday - A Fine Frenzy