Say hi to Robert Altman if you see him thereabouts.

Most of the cast of Gosford Park, plus Himself, were at the New Year's party I worked at year before last (SIL caters it every year). I was bartending. Think I served his wife, but not Altman. Definitely served Rip Torn. ("Have you seen Dodgeball? Yeah, I thought it would suck, but it turned out pretty good. You should check it out.")

Read the McCabe column you linked to on your blog a while back. Kept thinking, this is way more elaborate & well-written than a typical blog (he interviewed Milch?) then looked at the address bar & saw it was Matt Zoller Seitz. I used to read NY Press as soon as it hit the stand, & 99% of the reason was for the film section, but once that idiot Mugger fired Godfrey Cheshire it was never the same. Kept up for a long time, but it lost a lot when Strausbaugh left, and then completely went in the toilet when Smith sold it (but kept writing Mugger!) I couldn't stand him, but it was such a mess when the new publishers took over that I stopped reading. Anyway it was good to read some MZS again (and you're dead wrong if you think Armond White is NYP's worst writer - Russ SMith!! - which is more of a reflection on the others than an endorsement of AW, whom I find nearly as intriguing as he is maddening.) I don't go into the movie thread much. Is David Rothschild still around? A few of us went to see a movie in Astoria & MZS was in the lobby. I was a fan but didn't know him by sight. DR knew him, though, so I got to meet him. Seemed like a solid guy, which is what I would have guessed from his writing.

And speaking of Altman & KC, James Carter very nearly ended up on my mix with his cover of Don Byas's "1944 Stomp". Time constraints convinced me to go with Culture's "Two Sevens Clash" (a reference to 1977) instead. Back to work. Trial is scheduled to end on the 28th. A day or two to pack, should be back in NYC at the beginning of May. Or a week from today if I don't return here. There's a database calling my name...

Now that I am dead

That's a great song. I've Googled to find out who... is it French-Frith-Kaiser-Thompson?

I've been making a series of Best of mixes and today's is Yo La. Surfing through old reviews I found something most surprising:

Look how adorably unselfconscious and totally unironic Pitchfork reviews (circa 1997) used to be.

[link]

The greatest band in the universe is back with their ninth studio release called I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.

Covers! It's no secret that Yo La Tengo love to do covers, but who would have thought we'd be getting a VU-ish take on the Beach Boys' "Little Honda"? Not I.

Excellent songs! Only an asshole couldn't love songs like the power-poppy "Sugarcube," the melted country tune "The Lie and How We Told It," the bleary-eyed ballad "Damage," and Georgia's wafting, haunted "Shadows."

Yo La Tengo is still the greatest band in the universe! Enough said.

Aww, cute kid. Too bad it grew up and became a verbose, angry, annoying teenager.

In a startling fit of what my first bf called "fiscal irresponsibility", I bought the following at Amoeba:

Used

• The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (The EMI issue)
• The Delivery Man - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
• King of America - The Costello Show (Rhino reissue)
• Chronological Volumes 1 and 2 (JSP) - The Mills Bros.
• Am I Blue? - Ethel Waters

New

• Dope & Glory - Reefer Songs der 30er & 40er Jahre (Trikont)
• Somebody Loves Me - Betty Hutton

I went in just meaning to get the Betty Hutton and a used (if possible) copy of Ziggy Stardust. I turned in some used LPs, 45s and CDs that a friend unloaded on me and got $12 credit, but it didn't make a dent in what I had to pay to haul this out of the store. Even though the Ethel was $5.99 and the two Mills Bros. were $3.99 apiece...This is why I don't go record shopping very often. Too hard to have control. And, honestly, most of the time I don't even have enough money up front to spend it irresponsibly (not having a credit card definitely keeps my debt down).

Musical thoughts today:

There are an awful lot of artists that I first heard of through my X fandom. I read any interview with John and Exene voraciously and they'd mention Phil Ochs, The Carter Family, and others. I began to challenge my stereotypes about country purely because of the influence of John & Exene.

While I was at Amoeba, I was saddened to see many copies of k. d. lang's Ingenue in the Vocals clearance bin. That is a fantastic album. Dontcha always get a bit bummed when you see loads of an album you like in the used bin?

Ad agency manufactures pop group: [link]

They could become the ultimate in manufactured music. Four girls in their twenties have been brought together by Saatchi & Saatchi UK, the advertising agency, as a pop group that can be bought “off-the-shelf” by companies to promote their brands.

Saatchi & Saatchi clients who pay to use the still-unnamed group will have a say in its name, the song style and lyrics, as well as the brands the group wear, drink and eat.

Definitely served Rip Torn.

Awesome.

I used to read NY Press as soon as it hit the stand, & 99% of the reason was for the film section

Yeah, that MZS is freakin' brilliant. Godfrey Cheshire is, too, but I don't read him nearly as often as I used to when I lived in NC. I don't read the NYPress enough to have an informed opinion about who the worst writer really is, but I'm shocked that they could have possibly hired someone more brainless than Armond White. That guy brings out my inner bully like no one else. Every time I read him, I have the unusual but compelling desire to give him the mother of all swirlies.

I haven't seen David R posting over here much lately, but I talk with him via email on a daily basis. I didn't know about his personal connection to MZS, but we've discussed his Sopranos analysis.

I've Googled to find out who... is it French-Frith-Kaiser-Thompson?

Yep. RT often throws it into his set, but it's a Henry Kaiser composition.

Aww, cute kid. Too bad it grew up and became a verbose, angry, annoying teenager.

So sad and true, that.

So, I, too, went on a cd shopping/eMusic downloading spree this weekend, and got:

• Calexico - Garden Ruin
• Miles Davis - Dark Magus
• The Clientele - Strange Geometry
• The Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
• Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy - The Brave and the Bold
• Mushroom - Analog Hi-Fi Surprise
• Richard Youngs - The Naive Shaman
• Oneida - Each One Teach One
• Keiji Haino/Loren Mazzacane Connors - Vol 2
• The Decemberists' and Eric Matthews's contributions to an Elliot Smith tribute

The Decemberists' and Eric Matthews's contributions to an Elliot Smith tribute

I think theirs are two of the weaker tracks on that album, C.I, especially the Matthews' cover. I like the Dolorean ("The Biggest Lie" done country style - so freaking good) and We are Telephone ("Division Day") which should be somewhere on my round robin mix on buffistarawk2 if you don't want to waste a credit on it.

Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy - The Brave and the Bold

Report back on this one. It's on my Save for Later list.

if you don't want to waste a credit on it.

That's exactly where I am. I actually liked the Matthews cover pretty well, but was less than whelmed by the Decemberists'.

Report back on this one. It's on my Save for Later list.

So far, it's ok at best, pointless at worst. Better than Oldham's Greatest Palace Songs or whatever that Nash Vegas-sounding travesty was called, but overall not so great.