PopTodd

Freedy Johnston is pretty good, too.

"MKE" = Milwaukee? I don't know that I've seen that before. You MIGHT be able to find a 1-br. place for $1000-$1200 in Rogers Park. Or maybe in West Ravenswood (west of Western Ave.) if you look hard enough. Both neighborhoods are close to El stops, which are excellent for getting downtown every day. Although it has been 13 years since I've lived in the City, so...

Pretty good, pretty funny summation of the neighborhoods in Chicago. Chicago people, you'll get it http://slightlyinsultingchicagoposters.tumblr.com/

Zuzu's petals turn into giant flower monsters and Clarence comes back down to Earth with Michael the Archangel to do battle with the unholy creatures.

Just what the world WASN'T waiting for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJNBZ2rrMM Even the TRAILER is unfunny. This is going to be a trainwreck.

I need to delve into these guys a bit more, but I am not usually a "Greatest Hits" kind of guy. Is there one album that you would recommend as a good starting point?

You ever do this? This is a tune that I whiteboarded the whole arrangement before heading into the studio. I had an arrangement that was directly inspired by working with ProTools for the first time. But it was a bit obtuse, so I literally drew out the arrangement, using pen and paper. I knew that I wanted a bunch of polyrhythms happening over this very, very simple (hell, simplistic?) song. So I devised this sort of theoretical studio experiment, where I worked out having 4 simple 1-measure drum patterns, one after another, then looped and duplicated onto other tracks to create a sort of perc

Another sign of your age.

I would say that this one counts. Ray hadn't put out any new music in something like 20 years with The Kinks. So I would say that his first solo album counts as a "comeback." And it's a damn good one!

Went to my kid's school for curriculum night last night. Freaked me out that my son's math teacher is the little pisher that grew up in the house on the lot behind us. He was 10 years old when we moved in to the house yesterday... I mean 13 years ago. Damn.

Tough shit. I felt the same way as you about that song. But then, I heard it again for the first time in a long time and its perfection really just hit me. Hard. Not just the hook and the cheekiness, but the entire way that the song was put together, both musically and lyrically. It is goddamn PERFECT. And that is, sadly, probably its greatest downfall, as that has led to the overexposure that drive so many of us away from it. But the next time that you have a chance, listen. And I mean REALLY listen to that song. Maybe you'll regain an appreciation, as I did.

I know that this is a damn-near impossible task, with their catalog as deep as it is. Still, let's all try. In no solid-set order: Waterloo Sunset Celluloid Heroes The Village Green Preservation Society Two Sisters Death of a Clown I'm Not Like Everybody Else Where Have All the Good Times Gone? Picture Book Lola No Return And I'll probably want to change something once you all get your lists set.

Meat Puppets and Lyle Lovett are great. But, for my money: Jonathan Fucking Richman. [/thread]

Not including the golden oldies revival concerts that my parents dragged me to when I was little: U2 -- 1987 I was a Junior in H.S. and was able to drive my own damn self to the show. Pretty great one to start with. As far as first small-venue show: Meat Puppets -- also 1987 I was a senior in H.S. and fell in love with a girl who was sitting on the stage, throwing her hair around, and playing air drums.

I have wanted to cover this song for a long time, but have no idea how I would do that Fripp guitar solo.

Quick wit worthy of Groucho. Excellent!