...and so it begins...

If there's anything I hate, it's bad jazz music... even more specifically, bad jazz saxophone music (I would insert Kenny Gorelick ("Kenny G")'s name into that, but he's not even jazz... he's just pure, unadulterated shit on a cracker). The only thing I hate worse than that is bad jazz saxophone Christmas music... I guess at midnight on Thursday night, the music at work switched from decent music to "assloads of Christmas music and some decent music every here and there..." Every now and then a decent rendition of a Christmas song would play (no Stan Kenton, yet, mind you... and I'm not holding my breath)... followed by several horrendous renditions of Christmas songs (most notably about six different totally shitty versions of "Christmas Time is Here" (a personal fave) - you know, the song that opens up A Charlie Brown Christmas - here, just download it and listen for yourself)... I know it's really early in "the season..." but if I have to put myself through this for much longer... I may have to burn down the building...

If there's anything worse than bad jazz saxophone Christmas music, it HAS to be Gloria Estefan Christmas music... You can almost see her doing the conga over her versions of "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" (which really made me wish it was), and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town..."

Ack...

Listening to:

Possibly more bad metal/musical cliches than any band... ever...


Listening to: not this tripe, anyway...

Blind Melon - the Reunion

Talked a little about this a while back... but now you can hear three new songs (and watch a video) from "Blind Melon (Mach 2)" here.

Listening to:

Damien Rice: Swing and a Miss

After listening to it, I've decided that I absolutely do not like Damien Rice's new album, 9. It doesn't come remotely close to matching his previous effort, O. It just seems... completely lifeless, in comparison. I think I liked half of one song, actually. But the passion that O had, 9 just does not... at all.

Sorry man, but your new album sucks...

Listening to: the OT on FOX

Beatles Album Set for Release

November 21st is the date to go pick yourself up a copy of LOVE.

Basically, it's a bunch of remixes using the entire archive, done by former Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles.

Click here to listen to a pretty spiffy version of "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Listening to:

Kanye West is a Big Fat Baby

After winning a few Grammys last year, rapper Kanye West has garnered a few new awards: namely Sorest Loser, Most Overrated Artist in the Last 75 Years and Biggest Douchebag Ever to Grace God's Green Earth...

At the Mtv Europe music awards, the winner for Best Video went to Justice and Simian for the video for "We Are Your Friends." When the winners came up to claim their award and give their thanks, reportedly West rushed the stage and began a tirade that went on about how his video for "Touch the Sky" deserved the award because:

"...cost a million dollars... Pam Anderson was in it... I was jumping across mountains... If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility..."

Oh, man... Who does this guy pay to tell him it's okay to be this fucking stupid?
I can't seem to find a transcript for what all was exactly said while he was onstage... Heard he was drunk... Heard he cursed a lot... blah blah blah... but backstage, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, either:

"I haven't seen [the Justice Vs. Simian video]. Possibly it could have been quite good, but no way better than 'Touch The Sky.' That is complete bullshit. I paid a million. Obviously it's not all about the money, but the response it got transcended everything. It really made great TV. It took a month to film. I stood on a mountain. I flew a helicopter over Vegas. I did it to be the king of all videos and I wanted to walk home with that award."

What a whiny little bitch...

Listening to: Damien Rice - "9"

Van Halen Finds New Bassist

Van Halen has hired 15-year-old Wolfgang Van Halen -- the son of guitarist Edward Van Halen and estranged wife Valerie Bertinelli, and nephew of drummer Alex Van Halen -- as the new bassist for the band. Wolfgang replaces longtime bassist Michael Anthony, who left the band earlier this year. Van Halen spokesperson Janie Liszewski says that Wolfgang, known as "Wolfie," has already joined his dad and uncle for rehearsals in the studio. Wolfie played dates with his father during the band's 2004 tour, and the song "316" on 1991's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, was named for Wolfie's birth date that same year. The band is still without a lead singer, despite rumors that David Lee Roth might rejoin the band.

Listening to: John Mayer Trio - Try!

Need More Proof that Gwen Stefani has Sold Out to the Max?

Gwen Stefani will release her second solo album, The Sweet Escape, on December 5, 2006. The new album is the follow-up to 2004’s quadruple-platinum Love. Angel. Music. Baby., which included the hits “Hollaback Girl” and “What You Waiting For?”

Click the link to hear the first single off of Gwen Stefani's upcoming album, The Sweet Escape due out 12/5. It's called "Wind It Up" and is produced by The Neptunes. For the album she's also got support from Akon, Swizz Beatz, Nelle Hooper, Dave Stewart, Sean Garrett, and Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley among others.

"Wind It Up"

Yup... She officially sucks smelly ass, now.

Bit Torrent Site Admin Sentenced to Prison

23 year old Grant Stanley has been sentenced to five months in prison, followed by five months of home detention, and a $3000 fine for the work he put in the private BitTorrent tracker Elitetorrents.

This ruling is the first BitTorrent related conviction in the US. Stanley pleaded guilty earlier this year to “conspiracy to commit copyright infringement” and “criminal copyright infringement”. He is one of the three defendants in the Elitetorrents operation better known as “Operation D-Elite”.

Operation D-Elite (they love word tricks) was orchestrated by the FBI with a little help from the MPAA in May 2005, and resulted in the shutdown of one of the largest private BitTorrent trackers at that time.

Listening to:

From the "Yeah, right" Department:

Nirvana's music will now begin popping up in TV shows thanks to Courtney Love's recent deal to sell a portion of her rights of the Nirvana catalog. Forbes reports that four Nirvana songs will be heard on an episode of CSI: Miami next month.

"The decisions we make [regarding licensing] have nothing to do with money one way or the other," Love's manager Peter Asher told the Chicago Tribune earlier this year. "It’s a matter of, is this a cool show, is this a movie we’d like to be a part of? If it’s a tiny independent movie but it makes sense, we might let them use [a song] for almost nothing."

I'm not sure who she's trying to fool... other than maybe herself, trying to be able to sleep at night... but if she's trying to say that she's not cashing in, then she's a big, fat, stupid liar...

big? check
fat? check
stupid? check
liar? check

Hell Yeah - "Supergroup?"

The new band featuring Chad Gray (Mudvayne) on vocals, Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne) and Tom Maxwell (Nothingface) on guitar, Jerry Montano (Danzing, Nothingface) on bass and Vinnie Paul Abbot (Pantera, Damangeplan) on drums have chosen the name Hell Yeah. The band has been writing and recording for an album tentatively due out in March 2007. A tour is also expected to kick off in March.

I'm not sure what makes this a "supergroup..." I mean, yeah Vinnie is a pretty "super" drummer... but COME ON.

Plant/Krauss CD?

Launch Radio Networks reports: Robert Plant has been spotted out and about in Nashville recently, but he's not on vacation. According to the Tenneseean newspaper, the LED ZEPPELIN singer is working on a duets project with country and bluegrass star Alison Krauss. There's no word on how far along the sessions are or when it might be released, but the paper holds the idea of a Krauss/Plant album in high esteem, saying, "They should probably go ahead and book their trips to the 2008 Grammy Awards."

Listening to: Tony Phillips - "Drone Demos '05"/'06 demos