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

Hooray Black Friday!

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day. Had my first deep fried bird and it was quite tasty. By the way, did anyone catch the Jonas Bros at halftime of the Cowboys/Seahawks game? They can't carry a tune! I guess you have to be a teenaged girl to understand the hype. One more reason to hope for a boy.

- The first wave of 2008 Best Ofs have started to roll in... Filter, Paste, Swanktastic dot org, and multiple ones from KCRW. If you haven't had a chance to listen to some of these, Amazon is offering the 50 most popular albums for $5 each... not bad.

- And the ying to the best ofs yang. The Couch and T.O. Snobs have the most disappointing albums of the year. Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the tip.

- Aquarium Drunkard has a handful of unreleased and live Neil Young diddies and a bonus video from 1975-6.

A Hot Ghetto Mess

[120 Minute IPA + 20% ABV = 1 hell of a buzz]

Not sure if this is how I would describe Dogfish Head Brewery but if the lead brewer wants to, I think he's earned the right.

If you've never heard/seen/tasted one of Dogfish's delicious brews or liquors (that's right, they also distill rums, vodka and gin), your tastebuds and liver are truly missing out. Sam Calagione started Dogfish Head in 1995, survived some early missteps and now sells about 25 million bottles of beer per year. Still, with all of their successes, Dogfish continues to test the waters with new concoctions made from exotic ingredients like cloudberries, Chrysanthemum flowers, star anise and balsam fir tips. Some hit, some miss but who gives a shit... at least they're trying.

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If I had to choo-choo-choose my favorites, they would probably be the 90 Minute IPA, Raison D'Etre, Olde School Barleywine and the lip-smackin' Brown Honey Rum. They also have Alehouses in Rehoboth Beach (DE), Gaithersburg (MD) and Falls Church (VA) with some pretty good eats. And if you're ever looking for something to do on NYE, their Rehoboth location has a kick-ass five course beer dinner. I've been twice and from what I remember, it was good times.

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When you get a chance, take a gander at this article from The New Yorker on the Delaware brewery that gets more and more popular by the day (Dogfish can now be found in about half of the states). Just goes to show you that you don't necessarily need brains to be successful, just, as LBJ pointed out when he forwarded me the article, balls.

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Monday - The Killer
• Wednesday - Scott Weiland
• Thursday - Alkaline Trio
• Friday - Ben Folds

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Tuesday - The Killers
• Friday - Kaiser Chiefs

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Tom Morello
• Tuesday - Kanye West

Late Show w/Dave Letterman

• Monday - Kanye West
• Thursday - John Mayer

Kings of Leon - Constitution Hall (11/10/08)

I was back and forth for awhile on this concert, but ultimately decided to go because I figured this might be the last opportunity to see these guys in a venue this small. I didn't want to be kicking myself in a few years when they were playing the likes of Verizon Center or Nissan Pavilion. I've tasted that medicine with Coldplay, Foo Fighters and a few others and boy is it bitter. Plus I scored a floor ticket so I figured what the hell.

I know that Kings of Leon is huge across the pond and can't quite figure out why they haven't caught on in the states. The way they played at Constitution Hall, it's just a matter of time. They play to the crowd, but not too much. Guitar solos, but not too much. Smoke and lights, but not too much. The only thing big about the concert was their sound and it was awesome to experience in a smaller venue. My advice is to see them now, before you find yourself up in the nosebleeds and they look like ants crawling around.

Of Montreal - National (11/1/08)

Yeah it's been 3 weeks since I saw Of Montreal in Richmond, but damn was it a great show... one of the most all-around entertaining ones I've ever attended. I've seen bands do less with more and more with less, but these guys did more with more. They were all about making it both an audio and visual experience. While I didn't completely understand all of the theatrics, that shit was fun to watch. And closing the night with a balls-out cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" brought the f-ing house down. The next morning, I made a few unsuccessful attempts to describe the evening to the LOML+1 and after noticing her eyes rolling in the back of her head, deferred to the pictures at P-fork (unfortunately, the horse didn't make an appearance).

On a side note, The National is a great venue. The ground level is an open floor with two "mini" levels and the top was stadium seating (everything was general admission). Great acoustics, plenty of options and room to wander around.

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Tuesday - Alkaline Trio
• Wednesday - The Whigs
• Thursday - T.I.
• Friday - N.E.R.D.

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Friday - TV on the Radio

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Wednesday - Phil Lesh and Friends

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Wednesday - Yelle
• Thursday - T.I.

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Friday - Eric Hutchinson

Hooray Friday (a few days late)!

Internet connectivity has been a bitch over the last few weeks. And excuses are like assholes so let's get after it...

- New music:

• Rachel Yamagata (w. Ray LaMontagne), “Duet,” Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart (available now), I am Fuel
• Ben Sollee (w. Jim James), “Only a Song,” Something Worth Keeping EP (only available on tour), I am fuel
• Wilco (w. Fleet Foxes), "I Shall Be Released," recorded live this summer (available for download on Wilco's website if you pledge to vote), thanks to LBJ

- Listen to some old TV on the Radio songs live and acoustic thanks to Aquarium Drunkard.

- A couple of remixes of Tapes 'n Tapes' "The Dirty Dirty" courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

- NPR is at it again, this time with an interview and 4 song set list from Okkervil River on World Café .