Fifty-Two Tuesdays

Hey folks.  First off, I’m sorry there was no Tuesday Playlist this week.  I kept meaning to get to it and suddenly it was Friday.

First off, good news has arrived via my good friend Ann that reports of the imminent death of Pandora and other internet radio stations may not be so emminent!  Needless to say, I think this is a Good Thing.  Not only for music fans (I listen to Pandora between 6 and 8 hours a day most days), but also for the music industry.  (I’ve bought at least a dozen albums based purely on the strength of tracks I’ve heard on Pandora and other internet radio stations.  And I don’t think that I’m atypical in that respect.)

Unfortunately, no all is well in the world of music.  Turns out that an Australian “artist” claims to have Kurt Cobains stolen ashes and intends to smoke them as part of a performance art piece.  All I will say is, it turns out that my rage can go all the way to 11.

…No, fuck it.  I’m sorry, that’s not all I will say.  If what this woman says is true, she has received the ashes of a dead man which were stolen from his widow’s home.  She intends to desecrate those ashes by smoking them.  This woman is a ghoul, pure and simple.  Any creature who would show so little respect for a fellow human being, and a dead one at that, is not worthy of the basic dignity that they’re denying a fellow human being.  That this woman would disrespect Kurt Cobain for the sake of publicity disgusts me on a visceral level.

She is not “setting him free”.  It is not magic.  It is a vile form of disrespect.  And while I am not a violent man, it makes me understand why some cultures rank desecrating the dead along side murder when doling out punishments.  This woman, who apparently has no prior relation to Cobain, is using the death of a troubled man for personal gain.

In my book, that doesn’t make her an artist.  It makes her a monster.

On a lighter note: Melissa McEwan wins the internet.

And now, five songs with awesome guitar hooks:

Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Sonic Youth, “Incinerate”

Gosling, “One Hand, Two Hand”

The Cure, “Alt.End”

David Bowie, “The Man Who Sold The World”

Intro: Well, folks, unfortunately going to be a short one tonight. Work, as always, has me slammed and since I’m working with clients in the Eastern time zone, it means an early morning tomorrow. So here’s a condensed Playlist for you which will have to tide you over until next week or until things calm down enough that I can post a little more frequently.

Listening: The past month or so I’ve really just been listening to old favorites. I think that after almost a year of buying and listening heavily to a new album every week I was kind of craving some of the classics. This week it’s mainly been Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia by the Dandy Warhols and a selection of my favorite Cure tracks/albums.

First off, I really have to say that Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the most underrated albums of the past decade. I honestly think that it’s musically and satirically brilliant. The opener “Godless” to the closer “The Gospel” and peaking with the much-loved single “Bohemian Like You” it really is a masterful sendup of turn-of-the-millennium hipster culture and modern society as a whole. Add to that that it’s full of absolutely masterful rock tunes and you have one of the best rock albums of the new millennium.

Secondly, the Cure. Top 5 Cure tunes. Anyone want to play? Mine are as follows:

1.) “Lovesong” (This is as much because I associate it with someone very special as anything else, but it is a brilliant tune.)

2.) “Grinding Halt” (The Cure do Punk back when Punk was still important? Yes, please!)

3.) “alt.end” (“There’s a big, bright, beautiful world/Just the other side of the door.” Yeah, I think we can all relate sometimes.)

4.) “The Lovecats” (Maybe I’m just weird like that, but I kind of want this song played at my wedding.)

5.) “Killing an Arab” (The Cure riff on Camus; what’s not to like?)

Upcoming: Haven’t really seen anything exciting coming up. I have, however, heard great things about the Hold Steady, so I may need to grab the album they released last week. Also, I’m still loving Beck’s latest and I’m planning to review it as soon as I get a chance.

Oh, and then there’s the new Paul Westerberg album. I’ve never been a huge Replacements or Paul Westerberg fan (pardon me while I dodge brickbats from the audience), personally, but it’s there if you’re into that kind of thing.

News: The new Paul Westerberg (late of the Replacements) album that I mentioned above is for sale through Amazon for only $.49. That’s right, less than half a dollar. The whole thing’s a bit gimmicky: a single-track album, called 49:00, for sale for $.49, on July 19th (or as the calender-impaired Westerberg claims: June 49th). Inexplicably, Mr. Westerberg shies at the last gate: the monotractual (it’s a word now!) album clocks in at just 43:55.

Also, apparently donuts are now the official currency of Pitchfork Media.

Thinking: Why is everyone surprised that John Lydon’s been implicated in a racist dust-up? This is a man who, along with Sid Vicious and co., defined the public shock-persona. At this point, it doesn’t matter whether John Lydon is or isn’t racist; people are scandalized that Johnny Rotten might be. And really, that’s what matters, I think, as far as Lydon/Rotten is concerned.

Song of the Week: Here’s The Cure’s “Grinding Halt” (off their 1979 debut Three Imaginary Boys) accompanied by an awesome stop-motion video done by youtube user badhill:

One band that I’m particularly excited about is The Cure, who are headlining Sunday night’s show. They’ve got talent and experience and I’ve been a huge fan of their music for years. They’re touring in support of their upcoming 13th studio album. Here they are playing “Alt.End” off of their self-titled 2004 release:

And, as an added bonus, here’s “The Only One”, the first single off of their (as yet unnamed) upcoming album: