Headed to Chicago tomorrow morning with James, Garza, Andy, Cravens, and Cody - and man am I amped! Herndon and Hodges are having a Fajitas and Ritas jammy jam for us tomorrow night, Longhorns and other assorted games on Sat, and Wrigley on Sunday - gonna be a great Labor Day weekend. The fuzzy-headed wop better have his drinkin' hat on, because we are going to kill it. Gonna take plenty of pics - expect a post.

Neutral Milk Hilton Hotel

In a recent press conference, Paris Hilton cited indie-folk rocker Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) as her main influence when making her album. What a crock of shit. She was also quoted saying, "Like NMH, I’ve been playing the piano and violin since I was six years old, and singing." I wonder which songs were influencing her lyrics from Stars Are Blind:
I don't mind spending some time
Just hanging here with you
Cuz I don't find too many guys
That treat me like you do
Those other guys all wanna take me for a ride
But when I walk their talk is suicide
Some people never get beyond their stupid pride
But you can see the real me inside
And I'm satisfied, oh no, ohh
Just in case a few of you out there aren't familiar with NMH - the album that Paris is holding, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of my all-time favorites - it great all the way through... Definitely one everyone should own. Here are a couple samples.
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945

Lonelygirl15 - what the hell is going on?

I came across this today checking out some blogs @ NYTimes.com. This whole thing is most interesting. Go to this website and check it out. Lonelygirl15. It has turned into sort of a youtube phenomenon. What is the underlying motive beneath all of this? I don't think it's legit, the lighting and editing are too well done. She is also too attractive and her mannerisms are too pronounced - she is def. an actress. There is also some sort of a weird religious occult thing that they keep mentioning and hinting at. Why does she have a shrine to Aleister Crowley in her room? I personally think that it has something to do with the Hanso initiative - at any rate it's going to be interesting to see where they are going to go with this - whoever is behind it.
Most of her video blogs don't offer a lot to move the plot along - below are two of the more interesting vlogs. The blogger for the New York Times thinks that is just a viral to get people to download the songs that are featured in each vlog. If that is the case, then it's pretty genius - but I am still holding out hope that it's going to be intergrated into Lost somehow (she does say that she lived in New Zealand and Australia.) If you are confused by this post, you should go to her youtube page and watch the videos. Here is a link to a fansite - Lonelygirl15.com. It's probably the easiest way to view the video in chronelogical order. F-ing weird man. Most likely, it's some viral for a new movie or something - but it's still pretty interesting. Here's a pretty good take on the whole thing by another blogger - if your interested.

Pluto has been kicked out of the club.

Earlier this week, the Inter-Galactic Alliance of Planets (IGAP) met in Prague to discuss our solar system's black sheep - Pluto. Apparently they have decided that the natural flora and fauna of Pluto just ain't cutting it and that it's planetary status has been pulled. Uranusians also claimed that Plutonians emit a steady stream of offensive odors. It's classification has been reduced to an "icy dwarf planet only suited for Tan-Tans." Here's a link to the article - Pluto loses status as a planet.

The Science of Sleep.

Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame is rolling out a new movie this Fall - The Science of Sleep. Haven't read a whole lot about it, but the trailer looks good. Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries = Excellent) has the lead role and the art direction looks to be in stellar Gondry fashion. In the trailer, there is a Strokes song and a Deathcab song - so perhaps the soundtrack is going to be solid as well. As many know - Gondry got his start directing commercials and music videos - so I thought I would also include some of these as well - pretty cool stuff. Have a good weekend everybody!

Daft Punk - Around the World



Kylie Minogue - Come Into My World



Radiohead - Knives Out

Okkervil River tonight @ Son of Hermann Hall.

Okkervil River is unrivaled greatness! All the D-Wheelers should try to make it out for the show.
Okkervil River - Red

A couple folks have mentioned to me that they would like to hear some samples of the albums that I post in my new music section. So here you go - when I change that list, I will try to post some samples so you guys can check out what they're like. Enjoy. Remember you can Right Click - Save As to download these files to your desktop.
Jim Noir - Key of C
Hot Chip - The Warning
Golden Smog - I Can
Sufjan Stevens - The Henney Buggy Band
I've already posted links to Regina Spektor and CSS.

The Dumbest Price Is Right Contestant Ever.

How dumb do you have to be to not be able to figure this out? I wonder if there was some dude in the audience that kept shouting at her to use the 1, and would crack up when she kept doing it.

Pretty, pretty, pretty great comics.

These comics are from the Perry Bible Fellowship - and as you can see, they are UTTERLY HILARIOUS! - I love that first one. Pure genius. They are kinda small - if you click on one it will open in a new window and it will be easier to read

Mel Brooks Thursday

My sister, Lauren and her friend, Tiny E (Erin) went up to Chicago this weekend for Lollapalooza and saw a ton of great bands. She called me during the Stars set on Friday and when I asked her who she was seeing she said - "well we're about to check out Iron & Wine, then My Morning Jacket, then Broken Social Scene, then Ryan Adams, then DeathCab..." - Wow. So now my sister has seen Iron & Wine and I still have not. She also saw a ton of other bands including The Lips, Gnarls, The Shins, Feist and Wilco in their hometown. Here is her take on the weekend and some pics from the shows. By the way Lauren and a couple of her friends call each other Midgets because they are all short, in case you were wondering.
Hello Stay Classy readers! Lollapalooza was pretty, pretty, pretty awesome - here are some highlights... Gnarls was a favorite, the whole band was dressed up in their finest Wimbeldon garb. We pushed our way up close so we could jam to Smiley Faces like champs. The Flaming Lips with the human bubble was hilarious and the 15 dancing Santas and Aliens was niiice. Thievery Corporation was super jammable, the beer and heat exhaustion might have helped a bit but we were pullin’ the typical festival moves. Iron and Wine was a pretty dope, we chilled on our white sheet and took it in. Broken Social Scene was awesome, the highlight was the when all the ladies took the stage for Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girl - they brought down the house! Leslie Feist was also incredible, great performer. We loved Matisayhu.. we called his show kosher, ha! A new favorite is also The Frames, we didn’t know them before but we do now and we likes. Stars = super. We met real Chicago friends who were awesome hosts and took us to some fun bars and good places to eat, not to mention hooked us up with free sweet tea and beer all 3 days at the festival. The trip couldn’t have been better. The Midgies heart Chicago.

Cee-Lo, of Gnarls Barkley and Goodie Mobb fame has released an original track for the highly awaited and perhaps over-hyped Snakes On A Plane. It's really kinda bad, yet likeable in a Bobby Brown/Ghostbusters 2 - "I Guess We're Gonna Have To Take Control" sort of way. This movie is of great interest to me, there has been so much hype there is no way it will be able to live up to expectation. But will people rip it? Aren't you kinda assuming it's going to be bad rolling into it? I read that after they rapped the film - the studio was planning on changing the name and Sameul L Jackson said he would refuse to promote the film if it wasn't called "Snakes on a Plane". I will definitely be seeing this one in the theatres - along with a ton of other people I imagine. It's gotta be better than Lady in the Water - which was terrrr-ible.
Cee-Lo - Ophidiophobia

George McConnell Leaves Panic.

It looks like George is moving to greener pastures, however I don't know exactly where he can go that will offer a sweeter gig than what he's got. I guess that he's played Love Tractor one too many times. Jon Keane is going to be playing in his place, on both electric lead and pedal steel. He played along with George at the Panic show I saw in Dallas recently, and he filled in great. George will be missed, even though I know some people hated on him (Slash), I always enjoyed his Trey-like noodlings. Here's a link to the statement on Panic's site - George Moves On.

Colbert's Take On The Landis Scandal - He Makes A Good Point.

CSS is an all girl electronica group out of Brazil - but I think they play real instruments on stage. The apparently rocked the Pitchfork Festival this past weekend. Music for dancing.
Casei Ser de Sexy - Let's Make Love Listen Death From Above

Throw Liz A Couple Bones.

Hello Stay Classy readers! Time to get your donation on. - The Georgia girl pictured above with Uga is my friend Elizabeth. She is training for the San Francisco Marathon and part of her training involves raising some K for Leukemia and Lymphoma. She has already raised a G and her goal is $3600. If you can part with a little cash, I am sure she would appreciate it. Plus it's for a good cause - and who doesn't enjoy a little philanthropy? If you would like to donate, here's the link to her website. - Liz's Team In Training Page