In honor of mustachios everywhere, we're paying tribute to the power of the 'stache.
It always comes back to the Beatles, doesn't it? Although others wore the 'stache before them, George and Ringo took it mainstream in 1967. Look carefully, and notice that Paul seems to sport a bit of lip fuzz. John? He wasn't having any of it. "I don't believe in mustaches. I just believe in me." No wonder they didn't last.
Saw this linked on a random blog, and nearly keeled over from laughing. Here's the show Mad Men, if it took place in Boston and starred New Kids on the Block's Joey McIntyre. The characters spend the entire time drinking Budweiser and swearing -- so this is very NSFW, if your office frowns on such things. Anyone who's ever been to a Red Sox game or even visited Boston will appreciate this clip.
FYI: According to the venue's website, Creed's Tuesday, October 13, show at the Chaifetz Arena has been cancelled due to a "scheduling conflict." The show has been off the schedule for a few weeks now -- the comments over at Kevin John's blog announcing this are rather priceless.In fact, I'm surprised at the vitriol being thrown the band's way. Either way, perhaps it has something to do with Curious George Live!, a show that was announced on September 8 hitting the Chaifetz Arena from October 8-11 -- with the way tour schedules worked out (Creed's in KC October 10), the stage load-in would be tight.
I don't know, though. Come on guys -- couldn't both shows happen? What do you say, Curious George?
Down's Phil Anselmo, of course, is also known for his time in Pantera. This is one of the funniest Beavis & Butt-head clips, at least in A to Z's world.
Ah, the ABC Afterschool Specials, those beacons of moral rectitude. In the '70s, '80s and even into the '90s, these TV movies showed kids just like you and me -- getting into total drama or dealing with big issues. Popular topics include divorce, having babies too young, adoption, physical trauma, drugs, illness and, um, dance offs. (See after the jump.) Scenarios might involve future bad boy Rob Lowe and bad girl-turned-tragic-figure/Different Strokes kid Dana Plato having a kid together and fighting over custody, like in the classic "Schoolboy Father."
And then there's this one from 1987: "The Day My Kid Went Punk." This doesn't quite rival the punk rock episode of ChiPs (or does it?) but we'd like to imagine it does. I mean, ignoring the fact that it should really be named: "The day my kid lost his hairbrush" or "The day my kid tried to dress up like Ian McCulloch or Robert Smith." Thanks to Pitch freelance genius Chris Packham for bringing this gem into my life.
UK superstars Musereleased their latest album, The Resistance, last week. I wasn't sure this was possible, but it's even more prog, over-the-top and dense than Black Holes and Revelations. (Its title track even sounds like Styx's "Mr. Roboto." Really.) However, "The Uprising" is a great glammy single with plenty of swagger and synth-guitar dirty dancing. Check out this video of the band lip-synching the song on an Italian TV show -- on switched instruments. Vocalist Matt Bellamy hamming it up behind the drums is priceless.
The Twitter of our pals at the Houston Presslinked the following video, of a metal version of the Super Mario Brothers theme song. Commenters -- a mix of metalheads and video game nuts, a dangerous combination -- pointed readers toward Powerglove, another band fond of covering video game music. (Among many others, such as the Minibosses and the Advantage.) Lo and behold, Powerglove's version of the Tetris theme is epic. View it, and a few other cool game themes, after the jump. ASIDE: Why hasn't anyone done a Battletoads theme cover yet? Get on it.
All props to web editor Nick for this one. I don't care if the meme is played out and everyone's tired of hearing about Kanye or whatever -- this totally sums up St. Louisians to a tee.
So, it's no secret that we here at A to Z aren't the biggest Nickelback fans around. But after stumbling across this video of vocalist Chad Kroeger having fun with the sign language interpreter at Nickelback's August 22 show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, I had to give him credit -- his fascination with her signs for expletives and self-deprecation, and her insistence on following everything he said, is pretty damn funny. Behold:
Thanks to our friendly neighborhood calendar editor for passing along this great commercial of Christopher "Kid" Reid -- of Kid 'N Play -- selling suits. He's doing it for the ladies, as always.
Why not have some stupid Internet music humor to make this nice Wednesday fly by?
First: Peter Cetera -- he of heading up Chicago in its awesome '80s days fame -- is on Twitter. What's his handle? Tweetercetera. I pretty much laugh every time he updates.
A few weeks ago, I was going to post this video of Sesame Street aliens the Yip-Yips discovering radio. But today, my pal Jack posted the following on his Facebook feed, and I'm crying I'm laughing so hard. So, um, Sesame Street's Yip-Yip martians busting a move to M.O.P. Language NSFW, unless you have a liberal workplace.
State, county and local governments are currently instituting a 70-day crackdown on drunken highway driving. Here are the deets.
But I think this video will tell you everything you need to know.
(Like, I don't know, maybe a bit more information on - let's say - that frosty little can of WHOOP-ASS that John Q. Law will crack open on your face if you cross him.) Glenn Frey, what do you think?
Mi amigo Matt runs the blog Addicted to Vinyl, and every Tuesday he unleashes a "cage match" battle between two songs/bands. This week's fight has particular relevance to St. Louis (and not just because I gave him the idea): Cheap Trick's "The Flame" vs. REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You." These are near and dear to the hearts of KSHE-listenin' St. Louisians -- in fact, the station's already earned a shout-out in the comments -- and so I encourage everyone to go weigh in on who earns power-ballad supremacy this week. Be sure to watch the beginning of this video. You owe it to yourself. Trust me.
The Warped Tour starts today at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. I'm heading out there in a bit to survey the scene, but if you're stuck at work, Ryan Wasoba's piece on the bands there pretty much covers it.
One amusing thing that's been making the rounds of message boards, though: There's a band on the tour this year called Attack! Attack!, which has been dubbed "crabcore" because of its, shall we say, crustacean-like moves. This .gif tells part of the story:
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...while Buddyhead's second-by-second review of the video from which that images comes tells the rest of the story. I've never really listened to them, so I can't judge for quality, but animated .gifs for some reason are always funny. It's a weird Internet law.
Having a crush in the digital age is even more confusing than it was before we had Twitter, Facebook, text messaging and email. I mean, if someone doesn't respond to your direct message, is he not interested? That flirty Tweet directed to that one girl in California -- does it mean anything? A cryptic Facebook status update alluding to shenanigans -- are you totally in the friend zone?
Thankfully, I Blame Emily -- who some of you might know as long-time local rocker Adam Reichmann -- understands the heartache, anxiety and uncertainty associated with love and romance in the social networking age. The loping twang of "Facebook Friend" details the longing of a chap who wants to transcend the digital realm and "do some real-life poking." Anyone who's ever wasted time at work on the site will completely relate to the tongue-in-cheek laments of the song's protagonist.
As an incentive to get "Facebook Friend" viral, Reichmann says that if 100,000 people buy the song, he'll donate 10% to the humane society. You can buy it from Amazon.com and iTunes. I recommend watching the video, whose storyline enhances the ridiculousness and dry wit of the song.
Jumbling Towers is roaring back to activity in fine form in the months leading up to its September 11 St. Louis return. The Catbirdseat just posted "Gilberta," which is the b-side to forthcoming single "Kanetown City Rips," and the band very quietly just posted a cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" on YouTube. The delivery of the song itself cracks me up, because it highlights the drama in Kanye's lyrics. Oh, and the desperation.
You know, we don't get a ton of dead-tree letters around these parts anymore, what with anyone able to fire off a comment on this blog quicker than they can find a stamp and a mailbox. But I did receive one yesterday that was too good not to share. Click on the image and enlarge it to read why one Richard C. Gunter did not like my piece on Michael Jackson.
As if last week's Rick Astley/Nirvana mashup wasn't good enough, my pal Matt found and posted this fantastic conflation of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and Bryan Adams' "Run to You." You wouldn't expect that James Hetfield's chipmunk-on-'roids vocals and Adams' epic wintry guitars would mesh so well, but they sure do. Credit goes to Wax Audio for the song and the Reborn Identity for the video.
Thanks to Jamie for passing this along. I'm betting that this wedding reception was probably the best party going on in town that night. How much fun is this?!
Was sent this last night, and in the span of 15 or so hours, it went viral. Yes, it's the DJ Morgoth mashup of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The ultimate RickRoll? Perhaps.
In this week's paper, I interviewed Son Volt's Jay Farrar. SV's latest, American Central Dust, arrived in stores last week. He spoke about song inspirations (and a forthcoming project with Ben Gibbard) in print; below find more talk about side project Gob Iron, and the connection between Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt's new label, Rounder Records. For other tidbits about the band, Son Volt drummer Dave Bryson's blog is recommended (and hilarious) reading. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary to find photos such as this one (it'll be explained below):
Annie Zaleski:When I talked to you in late 2007, you said a Gob Iron record might be in the works. What's the latest on that? Jay Farrar: That is more in the long-term works, but yeah, it's been going on now for at least a year and a half, and I think it's gonna go on a little longer. We did just do some more recording in Brooklyn a couple months ago. Hopefully that will see the light of day soon.
You guys are on Rounder now. And I read that the first person you met with was instrumental in booking Uncle Tupelo years ago. Is that someone from St. Louis?
He was in California, his name's Troy. He's no longer at the company, but when I first was in contact with Rounder, he was there. I was amazed to find out that yeah, he was in fact the guy that first gave Uncle Tupelo their first shot at a major booking agent. He brought Uncle Tupelo to the attention of Frank Reilly, who still [books] Son Volt.
The Fabulous Fox passed along a concert announcement this morning: Rob Thomas -- he of Matchbox 20, "Smooth" and solo-career fame -- at the venue on Halloween (which is on a Saturday this year). OneRepublic and Carolina Liar are opening; tickets are on sale this Friday, July 17, at 10 a.m. Thomas has a new solo album, Cradlesong, that's rather diverse; tunes range from '80s-styled synthrock to Paul Simon-esque rock-folk celebrations.
You know, though, one can't help but wonder if the bands will perform in costume at the show, as acts are wont to do on Halloween. Perhaps Thomas would do something like this...
photo illustration by Annie Zaleski
No offense intended -- just a little fun on a Monday afternoon.
Official estimates put the crowd that gathered under the Arch on Saturday to watch the Kennett, Mizzurah (that's how Crow herself pronounced it) native perform at nearly 50,000 people.
It was sweaty, it was impossible to park, it was entertaining -- a Chuck Berry cover featuring Elvis Costello!? Christian Schaeffer approves -- and it made for some outstanding people watching.
Even though there was a sizable contingent of out-of-towners (made obvious by their sweated-through Derek Jeter t-shirt jerseys), it's probably safe to assume that the following five are all from, as Crow would say, Mizzurah:
The Mullet makes it's first (but certainly not last) appearance of the evening.
Our pals over at the American Mustache Institute just commissioned a tune to further spread the gospel of their mission. Please take a listen to and/or purchase "I Got A Mustache" from LA musician/producer Jamey Scott. Vocals contributed by Eddie Cunningham, pedal steel by JayDee Mayness. The song's twangy textures celebrate (what I imagine to be) the joy and pride that comes from sporting facial hair. Plus, it doesn't sound anything like the AMI's mortal enemy, Dave Navarro -- so the powers-that-be must be thrilled.
I know I've blogged this before, but you should be following the RFT's three editorial Twitter accounts: RiverfrontTimes, rftmusic and gutcheckstl. Gotta admit, I find some great stuff in those accounts. For instance, Target Market (the band) tweeted a link to this video, from The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, that takes the piss out of "serious" Tweets. Any tech geek will probably find this tres amusing.
All MP3s are posted for sample purposes only, and always with permission from the artist or label. If you like what you hear, go out and support the band/musician by buying their record!
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