PopTodd

Last Night at the Lobster by Stuart O'Nan Chose it partially (a lot) because my first job after college was waiting tables at a Red Lobster near Chicago while searching for my first "real" job. One night of reading this very short book, I'm about halfway done. Very into it.

Andy started having debilitating panic attacks before live performances, so they stopped performing after the English Settlement tour. I've seen some live footage of the band and they were a monster live band. Too damn bad.

No Dukes?

T'was a tiny little room, but: Any questions?

Seeing as how they are THE most-underrated band in the history of rock, I thought that this might be fun. Or it might fall to the bottom of the page, never to be heard from again. Anyway: 1. Skylarking 2. The Dukes of Stratosphear - Chips From the Chocolate Fireball 3. Drums & Wires 4. English Settlement 5. Black Sea 6. Nonsuch 7. Oranges & Lemons 8. The Big Express 9. White Music 10. Mummer To be fair, I have not really heard Apple Venus enough to include it in any such list. Although, from what I hear, it is one of their better albums. I gotta go listen to it a bit more.

As he sings lead on some songs, I guess that Tobin Sprout (GBV) qualifies. My inlaws have a place up in northern Michigan, near Traverse City, where we visit them a couple of times a year. Occasionally we'll take day trips to a couple of cute little towns of the other side of the bay from them: Leland and Sutton's Bay. Leland, in particular, is something of an artists' colony with lots of artist-owned galleries and such. A few years ago I noticed a sign for "Petrified Fish Gallery: The Art of Tobin Sprout." Being a huge GBV fan, I had to check it out to see if it was actually his work. It wa

A bump of this thread, for its relevance to the new "Best American Bands Poll" thread. I knew we had this in here, somewhere.

These two things are true. (Despite my defense of RHCP, Los Lobos deserve to be on there. Top 5, even.) I would also find space for Yo La Tengo.

How old were you in the mid-80's when they first hit the scene? I am no fan of what the Chilis have become, but going back and listening to the debut, or Freaky Styley, all the way through Mother's Milk, NOBODY sounded like those guys did. Certainly nobody on the radio. That was a goddamn good band, regardless of what they've become or what they've helped wrought. Again, I am no fan of these guys, currently. But in the mid-to-late 80's they were one of my favorite bands. Period. And looking back, I can still see why.

This just came out and I've been reading really great reviews for it. I am already a huge J.C. fan but, let's face it, the guy is getting old. The fact that he is working with Tim Armstrong and that this new one is gaining comparisons to Johnny Cash's American Recordings in terms of a return to form.... well, that is putting this near the top of my trigger list. Anyone picked this up yet? Planning on getting it? Any thoughts? Here's the AllMusic writeup: That's damn high praise.

I heard a piece on Public Radio last night about Pussy Riot. (Of course it was Public Radio!) And it was pretty damn interesting. "Pussy Riot" isn't just the name of the band, but it's the name of an entire female/feminist protest movement in Russia that is opposed to the Putin regime; it's more than just those three women who are in jail. It's a whole grassroots thing. Here is a link to an interview with another couple of members of the movement. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/08/146581790/in-russia-punk-rock-riot-girls-rage-against-putin Great stuff, as always.

Sounds awesome. Anyone heard it yet?

Time to lighten the mood...