After watching waaaaay too many hours of basketball yesterday(The Cetics / Hawks game was just as good as I remembered and it had an extra bonus, a few minutes of PT for rookie Reggie Lewis - RIP buddy), I thought I would throw a changeup today and devote my space entirely to music. This is very easy to do as Moday is the UK release date(Tuesday for the US) for Phantom Power, the next opus from my favorite band in the world, the Super Furry Animals. I will note that the guys are all very good friends of mine(for many years I felt like their only fan in the US) for which I am a bit biased. They are all super nice and because of my friendship I have been able to take part is some amazing adventures with them, including:
- Going upstate to Bearsville and watching them record what would become their last album, Rings Around the World. I just sat their for hours with huge grin on my face listening to the guys bang out songs. Words do not do justice to watching your favorite band make their new record right in front of you, occasionally asking me what I thought of a particular tune. I remember Cian taking a long time to nail the piano line in "Patience" and also him piecing together the beats that would make up "All The Shit You Do" and "Edam Anchorman". The last night they were there, they played all the finished songs back over the PA for everyone to hear. My 3 favorite the songs didn't even make the record (they were relegated ot B-Sides) but that just shows you how good that album was.
- I liked the record so much(and since I ws unemployed at the time), I saw 8 shows of their US tour.
- I also traveled to the UK to attend the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2000. The Furries were of course playing. I was also excited to finally see Oasis in the UK as well as Primal Scream, who were touring behing XTRMNTR, by far my favorite record of that year. I rode with the band on the bus from Reading to Leeds and they blagged me tickets, passes etc. for the gig. Part of their set at the time was to have 5 crew members dress up in various animals costumes and come onstage during the end of the set when Cian is going techno on "The Man Don't Give A Fuck." For some reason, in Leeds, they were 2 people short. Upon hearing the announcement in the tour bus, I immediately think "No way are they going to ask me" then Guto turns around and says, "Kyle, up for it?" Shit I was mad for it. "Hells Yeah!" I said and backstage I went to suit up. I was nervous as hell but I did alright. Check it out here. That's me in the center in the green gorilla costume. It was the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. I didn't want to leave the stage. 65,000 people were going mental, cheering, taking pictures, whatever. I can see how fame goes to people's heads. Anyway we come off stage and I'm so fucking juiced from what I just did I can't even begin to deal. I went to the dressing room to chill but Jarvis Cocker, Justine Firschman and the guys in Gomez all came to hang out. Talk about a surreal day.
- In 2001 I went to Dublin when the Furries staged one of their Furrymania weekends. This consists of a DVD screening on Friday and afternoon acoustic show on Saturday followed by a full on show Saturday night followed then by a DJ set by the band at some club after the gig. I went. Shit was crazy. The band dedicated my favorite song, "Citizens Band"(the hidden track on Guerilla) to me. It was the third time they'd ever played it. Gruff couldn't remember the second verse. It was the coolest thing ever. I wrote a 6 page recollection of my time in Dublin, I'll have to dig it up and post it here. It was intense. I'll just sum it up by saying that in 4 days in Dublin, I drank 33 pints of Guinness.
But I digress...
So Phantom Power is out next week. Go Buy It. It's even better than their last record. Here are reviews from NME and Rolling Stone. Have I mentioned Rolling Stone sucks?
Want tour news? Where do you live? The UK or in the US?
Other MUSIC NEWS AND STUFF FROM THE INTERWEB:
- This just in! Music Industry is in a slump. Really? I had no fucking idea. Maybe it's because record labels promote piece of shitbands like COLD in 1/4 page ads?
- New music from My Bloody Valentine? Momentous!
- Greatest Hits from the Chemical Brothers. I remember being in college and watching 120 minutes one night and Tim Burgess said that Exit Planet Dust was his favorite record of that year. I went and bought it the next day.
- Siren tomorrow...Ted Leo is also doing something on WMFU but not sure what. Idlewild get some love from the NY Times. Nice one. They are on the Ted Leo stage at 8 PM.

Cheers all.
Remember, throw the knife toward the meaning of life.

Ah...It's the little things in life that make you really happy. I just signed up for NBA TV from DirecTV and am getting ready to settle in and watch some Summer League hoops! Life is good. Games start at noon and Celtics v. Knicks is tonight at 8 PM.
But wait faithful reader, it gets better. Much Better. At 9 PM on ESPN Classic, it's on!!The 1988 EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS, GAME 7, ATLANTA HAWKS VS. BOSTON CELTICS at the BOSTON GARDEN. That's the infamous Bird v. Dominique game where they go mano a mano in the 4th quarter. I can't wait! Yes, I have no life. Thanks for understanding.
MUSIC AND NEWS FROM THE INTERWEB:
- The Mooney Suzuki get "complicated" with the Matrix. I told you this back on June 27th. But no one listened. Maybe next time. However, no one on the Velvet Rope seemed to care although they all made a stink when la Liz did the same thing. I guess the Velvet Rope doesn't care about the Mooney Suzuki...I will refrain from commenting further.
- Surprise!(Not really) Another Lollapalooza cancelation. Jane's haven't been popular(or particularly good) since the early 90's, everyone has seen Queens of the Stone Age and Incubus like 50 times the past 2-3 years and Audioslave isn't enough to pack the crowds. That and tickets come to like $72. Idiots. Lollapalooza was created to put many different bands of different genre's on one tour. That it is not happening here.
- Two of the greatest bands ever on one CD? I am, of course, speaking of the Super Furry Animals and Spoon.
- Are you an accountant looking for work? Suede needs a new one. Only those with upstanding morals and negligible criminal history need apply.
- Great news that also brightened my day. One thing at at time Jay. Small steps buddy.
- The Celtics make a splash in Free Agency. Not. Danny Ainge's master plan? I hope not. Everyone in the East is getting better except us. Scorecard here and here. Let me go on record stating the Nets will not get much better by signing Alonzo Mourning. They need a shooter, not another overpaid big man. Rip Hamilton would have been better for them.
- A burglary at the TVT offices. Funny that, especially after this NY Times story I posted yesterday. Something here isn't right. *cough*Island/Def Jam*cough*
- Batman film news. I am all for Christian Bale signing on to be the Dark Knight.
-More love for Apple's AV Chat.
- Argh!! What are they thinking? They should have bought this instead.

Ted Leo, Ted Leo, Ted Leo.
Remember, we make our days as they make us, as I must, as Odysseus, make myself my own Telemachus.

My cat is just the coolest. It's hard to explain here, just take my word for it.
I'm giving the new Blur record another shot. Not feeling it much thusfar(although "My White Noise" is on point). I loooooved their last one, 13, but I think Damon's Ego has taken over at this point. He needed Graham to balance everything out. I think it's funny that Damon still can't give an interview without mentioning Noel. But I digress...
NEWS AND STUFF FROM THE INTERWEB:
- Drool...interview with Chuck Palahniuk...Drool...His new book has been dispatched from Amazon to my door. Simply waiting for arrival.
- Orlando Magic have been denied the medical exemption for Grant Hill and his fucked up ankle. This means they have to count Grant's salary against the salary cap(which turns out to be higher than everyone thought). But hey, they agreed to terms with Juwan Howard. Minnesota fans everywhere are crying. Free Agents can start signing contracts tomorrow.
- Another fat man for ESPN's football pre game shows.
- Tarantino's new film Kill Bill will be released in two parts. Movie studios need to do more crazy things like this. The last Matrix installment sucked but props to them for releasing the new one at the end of the year. Coolness.
- More retractions from the Times. Get your shit together people!!
- Dubya...inching past Roger Clemens on the people I hate most list. Get your shit together man!!
- This just in: It is legal to lie. Aren't the fucking mayor and other politicians supposed to save us from this shit!?! Read the entry's from my first week blogging on how screwed up the MTA is.
- Bono buys Steve Jobs apartment in NYC for mad loot.
- Yeah, like Apple is scared of you or something. Bring that weak shit on!!
- Buy a Bug from VW, get an iPod. Hotness. Also, iPods will now be sold at Circuit City and Bose.
- See Albert Einstein in a crop circle.

Tomorrow is my last day in Filemaker class. If anyone needs some work done on their current database, give a brother a shout, won't ya?
Don't forget...Ted Leo, Ted Leo, Ted Leo.
An remember, I'm here because I've got no fucking choice.

Ay Caramba! Hectic day today. I took a Filemaker Pro course most of the day and then had to hurry to my physical therapy appointment uptown. No one really cares about that so lets get right to it:
NEWS AND STUFF FROM THE INTERWEB:
- My Filemaker class was cool but all I could think about today was Summer League NBA ball up in Boston. Shit was supposed to be on tonight with the Cleveland LeBron's going against the Celtics featuring Lenny Cooke. For all those that don't know, LeBron schooled Mr. Cooke 2 years ago at the Adidas ABCD camp when they went head to head. Cooke was LeBron before LeBron was LeBron. Then LeBron won the game between their teams at the camp with a 3 at the buzzer(outscoring Cooke 28-9 in the process) and they hype was on. Cooke declared for the draft, went undrafted and his career has been in a downward spiral ever since. Cooke is now on the C's summer league roster. Unfortunately, their rematch never materialized as Cooke never made it off the C's bench. Loser. LeBron lost anyway, JR Bremer's 28 led the C's to the W. And yes, I wanted to see how many times I could put LeBron in that paragraph. Marcus Banks had 10 pts, 4 assists and 3 TO's.
- Anyone else seen the ads for the MLB All Star Shame tomorrow on Fox? Anyone else think it's funny that Barry Zito is in those ads now that he has been replaced on the team, unbeknownst to him, by Roger Clemens? In related news, I fucking hate Roger Clemens. Quoth Flavor Flav: "Motherfuck him and John Wayne!"
- The Sports Guy delves into his mailbag. Hilarity ensues. The pics of Nash and Dirk getting hammererd are in the column so I won't bother posting those seperately.
- Cheers to the Boston Globe for being the only news outlet I found to cover the US men's victory over El Salvador this past weekend. I am talking about soccer(the rest of the world calls it "fitba") here people. What the fuck other sport are we going to play El Slavador in? The US women beat Brazil on Sunday. Respect. Julie Foudie, How you doin?
- Major Congratumalations go out to Timmy Howard. The latest in a long line of excellent goalkeepers our fair country has produced. He is off to play for my squad Man U. Good luck boyo!!
- The Mets keep rebuilding.
- This just in: Star running backs get preferrential treatment in college classes. Shock! Horror!
- REM are doing their damnedest to get me to buy tickets for their tour. Bastards!!
- The Lips want to record with The 'Head.
- I literally rolled around on the floor drooling for twenty minutes when i read the following on Ted Leo's website(What Else section):
"Rebecca will be joining me for some East Coast solo dates in September, so if I'm lucky, maybe I'll get to join her for some Spinanes reprises."
Could it be??? Current indie fave Ted Leo touring wih all time indie fave Rebecca Gates(aka the Spinanes)? Hootie Hoo!!! In other news, Ted Leo fucking rocks and he will rule Siren this year! (5:30 kids)
- Pearl Jam...biggest of this year's free agent crop. I predicted a while ago they would go inide on future releases. I am a fucking genius for going out on that limb, huh? Ps, nice pic.

That's all for now. I've retyped this post three fucking times because it keeps disappearing on me when I hit Preview so now it's going up errors and all.
Cheers to Catchdubs and Whatevs for the linkage this weekend.
Remember, there might just be a time when you need some friends.