Hooray Friday!

- Check out Shearwater perform four songs as part of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. Last year's Rook got a lot of high praise, but not from this guy... just couldn't get into them.

- From another concert series, this one over at P-fork. the Hold Steady performs four diddies on Don't Look Down.

- I thought I had figured out our newly installed DVR, but woke up last Sunday AM to find that SNL hadn't recorded (stupid technology). Initially, I was bummed because I wanted to see TV on the Radio perform... especially since they dissed DC in their first set of tour dates. I later saw on quite a few sites/blogs that they sounded like dung, apparently due to SNLs union fetish. Then the world got a little better when I caught their interview/performance later in the week on The Colbert Report. And then the coup de grace... another round of tour dates, this time with DC getting some love. Ahhhh.

- Listen to Antony and the Johnsons perform three songs on MPR's The Current.

Sportsmanship isn't lost

You don't have to be a sports fan for this story to tug at the old heartstrings....

Yahoo Sports: Rivals High

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Wednesday - K'Naan
• Thursday - Anya Marina

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Tuesday - Andrew Bird
• Wednesday - Lisa Hannigan

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - thenewno2

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - Willie Nelson w/Asleep at the Wheel
• Tuesday - M. Ward
• Wednesday - Antony & the Johnsons

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Friday - The Knux

Hooray Friday!

- Miss Radiohead and the USC Marching Band at the Grammys or just want to see it again? MOKB has the hook up.

- Wanna be depressed? Well then take a gander at the amount of greenbacks that the top musicians made in '08. While looking at this list, a few things:

• How can the Jonas Brothers rake in $62 million? Even if 12 year old girls think they're the bees knees, they don't have much talent. Jealous? You bet your sweet bippy I am.
• $242 million?? I can't even fathom that amount of money. Oh wait, I forgot how much Madonna concert tickets cost.
• I don't want to ever hear any of these characters complaining about the hardships of the music business or life on the road.
• The Jonas Bros??? Seriously??

Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the swift kick in the nuts.

- TV on the Radio's been getting a lot of love over the past few weeks, appearing on SNL and the Colbert Report just to name a few. Check out their interview (begins after 2nd line break) and performance (3rd line break) on the Colbert Report website. I'm still waiting for their DC dates to be announced...

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Tuesday - The Little Ones
• Thursday - Miksha
• Friday - Rusty Truck

Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno

• Monday - Duffy

Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Brett Dennen
• Friday - Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys)

Last Call w/Carson Palmer

• Monday - T.I.
• Tuesday - Adele
• Wednesday - Blind Pilot
• Thursday - The Sounds

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - The Von Bondies
• Tuesday - Heartless Bastards

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Monday - Adele

War Child Heroes compilation

I probably won't be available on Friday so here's a mid-week delight...

War Child, a Canadian based charity is releasing a compilation album (Feb 24th) where rock legends choo... choo... choose new bands to cover one of their songs. Pretty cool concept if you ask me and from the looks of the tracklist, the elders really know how to pick 'em. Kudos to P-fork for hooking us up with the stream of the TVOTR track. Honestly, I'm kinda lukewarm about it after only a few listens, but if it's like their other stuff I'm sure it'll grow on me.

TV on the Radio - "Heroes" (David Bowie)
Beck - "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob Dylan)
The Kooks - "Victoria" (The Kinks)
The Hold Steady - "Atlantic City" (Bruce Springsteen)
Hot Chip - "Transmission" (Joy Division)
Lily Allen ft. Mick Jones - "Straight to Hell" (The Clash)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (The Ramones)
Franz Ferdinand - "Call Me" (Blondie)
Duffy - "Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney)
Estelle - "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder)
Rufus Wainwright - "Wonderful & Song for Children" (Brian Wilson)
Scissor Sisters - "Do the Strand" (Roxy Music)
Peaches - "Search and Destroy" (Iggy Pop)
Adam Cohen - "Take This Waltz" (Leonard Cohen)
Elbow - "Running to Stand Still" (U2)
The Like - "You Belong to Me" (Elvis Costello)

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Thursday - Kraak & Smaak
• Friday - Benji Hughes

Late Nigh w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - The Walkmen
• Tuesday - M83
• Wednesday - Cold War Kids
• Friday - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - LMFAO
• Wednesday - Ida Maria
• Thursday - Company of Thieves

Last Show w/David Letterman

• Tuesday - Andrew Bird
• Friday - Gaslight Anthem

Talk about pressure

Even if you're not big into politics, you've probably heard a little of the buzz surrounding today's inauguration. Obama's speech has already been compared to FDR's and Kennedy's, before he's even given it. How about that for pressure? I'd rather be standing on the charity stripe with the game on the line or lining up to kick the game-winning field goal (I'd miss both, for the record).

The LOML+1 would love to be freezing our asses off at the Mall instead of lounging on Big Brown in our living room (seriously), but you can't have it all. Even on the boob tube, it's still pretty f-ing cool to experience.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - T.I.

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Q-Tip

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - LMFAO
• Thursday - Company of Thieves
• Friday - Jash Radin

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - Broken Social Scene
• Thursday - Of Montreal

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Tuesday - The Submarines

Jaydiohead

Yup, it is what it looks like. Not crazy about it, but it's worth a few listens. I agree with Stereogum, what the hell took so long?

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Monday - T-Pain
• Wednesday - Gabe Dixon Band

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Monday - Iron & Wine
• Friday - Eagles of Death Metal

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - Little Joy
• Friday - Yelle

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - Glasvegas
• Wednesday - Okkervil River

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Monday - Keane
• Tuesday - John Legend

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Tuesday - Old Crow Medicine Show
• Thursday - Billy Joel
• Friday - Issac Hayes

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Thursday - Cut Copy

Ghostland Observatory - 9:30 Club (12/13/08)

Two words - sensory overload. That's what happens when you have a rocking dance beat, high-pitched lead singer, laser-light show, flying glow-sticks, and smoke machine all making sweet love under one roof. Can just two people make that kind of ruckus? For 1 hour and 30 minutes, Ghostland Observatory answered that question with an emphatic 'YES!"

There were two points during the concert that I had to walk away because I thought my head might explode. Trying to pay attention to everything that was going on proved to be too much for me. Focus on the music OR the lasers OR what looked like a rave on the lower level.... not all three at the same time. Great concert with an insane amount of energy, but my head is still spinning.

Back-to-back

[PSU.edu]

Congrats to the PSU women's volleyball for winning their second straight NCAA Championship on Saturday. The numbers are impressive...

• 38-0
• Only lost 2 games all season
• 64 match winning streak (dating back to Sep '07)

Hooray Friday!

- More Best of Lists from P-fork (albums, tracks), Ultra 8201, and Earfarm, MFKWCRG, Let's Sexy Fighting,

- Sign up for Grant Lee Phillips' mailing list by Dec 23rd and download the unreleased track "Jimmy Dean." For free is for me! Thanks to T.O. Snobs Music.

- Seems like I've been hearing about this Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel cover of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" forever. Well, it's finally here and I'm not all that impressed. Oh well, worse things have happened.

- Okay, didn't believe me about Of Montreal in concert. Here's a little taste from Letterman, thanks to P-fork.

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Tuesday - The Cure

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Wednesday - Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene)
• Thursday - Of Montreal

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Wednesday - Death Cab for Cutie

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - John Legend
• Tuesday - Fleet Foxes

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - The Dan Band
• Thursday - The Cure

Is all that real?

That was the million dollar question one of my co-workers just asked after oogling over the Jennifer Aniston's GQ spread. My answer?

Who gives a shit if it's real, fake, airbrushed or natural? What matters is what's in your mind. Reality doesn't matter in this case because, no offense, you have absolutely no chance at reality.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

Hooray Friday!

- And the Best of 2008 lists keep coming... Metro D (part 1 & 2), NME, SPIN, Rolling Stone (albums, singles), A.V. Club, Drowned In Sound. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you're craving more, more, more, Largehearted Boy's list keeps growing by he day.

- The Shins cover "Strange Powers" and Aquarium Drunkard thinks it's better than the original by the Magnetic Fields. Have a listen for yourself.

- Double-shot from AD... this one from Pavement's stop in Minneapolis on their 1992 Slanted & Enchanted tour.

- Some "reissue" packages really piss me off, mainly because it's obvious that bands or labels are just looking to cash in on the greenbacks. That doesn't seem the case though with Pearl Jam's reissue of Ten in March. While prices haven't been set yet (which may change my mind), they are definitely giving fans options... four to be exact. Seems like some pretty sweet extras if you ask me. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they keep the prices reasonable.

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Wednesday - Adele
• Thursday - Snow Patrol

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Tuesday - The Gaslight Anthem

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - Josh Radin

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - The Duke Spirit
• Thursday - Bon Iver

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Wednesday - Tokyo Police Club

This week's late night TV lineup

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Tuesday - Sia
• Wednesday - Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Monday - T.I.
• Thursday - Tom Jones
• Friday - Ludacris

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Wednesday - Tom Jones
• Thursday - Common

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Wednesday - Steel Train

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Wednesday - Pendulum