Shat Happens. All Others Palin Comparison.

From the "Why Didn't I Think of That?" File: Freese Publicity

Finally, "smart musician" is not an oxymoron: witness the marketing genius of session drummer Josh Freese. Although he has a patchy musical history, toeing the line between "ugh" (Kelly Clarkson, being in the same hemisphere--never mind the same room--as Axl for Chinese Democracy), and "cool!"(Tool, NIN), Josh has come up with a great way to market himself and his new album, Since 1972.

Depending on how much you pay, you get cool perks like a day in a flotation tank with Josh (I'm assuming it's not the same tank, mind you), a classy meal at the Sizz, or, my personal favorite, for $75G, a cruise in one of Tool's Lamborghini's while high on shrooms. I'm assuming you're not doing the driving on this last one, or $75G begins to seem like a bargain.

Well, kudos to you, Mr. Freese, and some more free publicity for you new album, which I've yet to hear... but no matter.

Fish Wrap: "Abe Vigoda's Dead"

In honor of this week of celebrity deaths (Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Mark Sanford's career), I give you the Abe Vigoda Status page. Never again will cocktail parties come to a screeching halt while people debate the oxygen-breathing status of the former "Barney Miller" star.

Be sure to click on the sick, twisted and delightful Bauhaus parody cover, "Abe Vigoda's Dead."

(Thanks to Mr. Jotz for the FB post on this website.)

Jay Bennett

Jay Bennett, 1963-2009

Songwriter, guitarist, singer and more Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, was found dead last week. A cause of death has not yet been determined.

I'm a fan of both the with-Bennett and post-Bennett Wilco material, but
his loss is a damn shame. I picked up his "The Magnificent Defeat" solo
CD for two bucks at a shop in Berkeley in 2007. I thought it was
mediocre. Then I listened to it again. While still uneven, it sure is
interesting. I just picked up a more recent effort, "Whatever Happened,
I Apologize" for free online.

Come to think of it, that I could (legally) buy one of his albums for
free and another for two bucks tells me why he might have been unable to afford health insurance.

Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around
-- "Jesus, Etc.," from Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Antioxidant Ale? White Blood Cell Wheat? Still-Alive Stout?

Researchers at Rice University have brewed a beer with even more life-sustaining qualities than a West Coast microbrew.

As detailed here and here, the newly dubbed BioBeer contains yeast that has been engineered to produce resveratrol -- a chemical in red wine that has been has been attributed with powers to stem diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's and other conditions.

Soon, maybe Guinness won't be the only brew on the shelves linked to both healthy living and urinating on Washington, D.C. concertgoers.

Crowded House Plays DC's 930 Club

The following is a brief and completely arbitrary review.

Crowded House put on an inspiring and sometimes surprising performance at Washington, D.C.'s 930 Club on Friday, May 2.

The band delved deeply into their back catalog early, making "World Where You Live" the second song of their 2-hour set. Mixed in with older material were some compelling new songs the band is trying out on tour, including "789" and the moody pop of "Isolation." Saying the band felt free to try out the new numbers "among friends," frontman Neil Finn cautioned the band was still tinkering with the new numbers and they "may sound completely different next time."

Absent from the show were any songs from the band's 2007 reunion album, "Time on Earth."

A transcendent "Distant Sun" was a highlight of the first half of the show, with second-year drummer Matt Sherrod seeming blissed-out while driving the song from its casual opening to its propulsive close.

While each of the foursome -- joined by opening act Don McGlashan on many numbers -- sounded in fine form, Sherrod was particularly strong, showing a strong presence throughout. The sound quality was a bit fuzzy at times, but that may have just been because I was tucked into the crowd just a few feet away from the stage-left speakers.

Sherrod's drumming brought the lengthy encore to another frakkin' plane during "Private Universe." The song never used to be among my favorite CH tracks; now, I cannot comprehend what the hell I was thinking. As Sherrod brought his own flavor to the Maori-inspired rhythms of the close and Mark Hart provided sizzling pedal steel guitar lines, the music utterly blasted my ass out.

Objection O' The Night: Audience participation. Yeah, crowd-singing on "Weather with You" is a Crowded House tradition, but let's draw the line there. I don't go to shows to hear asshat Aussies or any other audience members warble along to "Whispers and Moans" or, god help us, literally oohing and aahing while Finn improvises a tune.

UPDATE: Yes, they DID play "English Trees."