Hey! My friend Mark is the bassist for the Shack Shakers! He's a blast.

Oh, Liese, no way! I've seen the Shack Shakers play, and he's very amusing to watch in the show, as all the beer is being flung, he just sort of sways, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. That's crazy that you know him!

Theo, I agree with you, that would make for a hilarious SPN vid.

Cool beans -- I'm impressed with the Shaker's playing, I truly am!

Yeah, he's amazing on stage. He's really charismatic. And he can play.

I wrote a drabble about him some years back; I spent a long time thinking he was an asshole, and then realized that I actually liked him quite a lot and I should admit that we were friends. He's a great guy.

He's also an excellent producer.

And our final set, which of course has to be... DEATH ::insert sinister chords::

(All links are from YouSendIt, let me know if there's a problem.)

Touch of Evil, Man or Astro-Man -- from the Shots in the Dark compilation, which is all Henry Mancini covers.

Cemetary (acoustic), The Headstones. I couldn't resist another Hugh Dillon composition (of course) and this once again shows off a fine dark side.

Carnival of Souls, Combustible Edison -- a touch of whimsy, a touch of grue, an instrumental confection.

We Both Go Down Together, The Decemberists -- "Here we stand on the cliffs of Dover..." Sounds like a death pact to me.

Boom Boom Ba, Metisse. Technically, there's nothing particularly "deathly" about this song (although, who knows what the lyrics mean) but it's from the Dead like Me soundtrack (much thanks to TheAmusedOne!) so it fits.

I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Death Cab for Cutie. And another cheery song just keeps those hits coming!

Don't Fear the Reaper, The Beautiful South -- possibly the most lyrical and beautiful cover of this song, ever.

And finally, if you don't want to be clicking and clicking and clicking, here's a comprehensive zip file of the set: Death.zip. And may Death be your Santa Claus.

UltraVox -- back from when they were still fun. Yes, they were, I was surprised as anyone to find it out....

Anything from the John Foxx era is well worth checking out and holds up marvelously.

I loved the Midge Ure version of the band a lot in high school, but it's now in pure guilty pleasure territory along with most of the prog rock I was into at the time.

eMusic is raising their prices: [link]

From Tom's link:

Current subscribers and those who sign up in the next few weeks will continue to receive the old rate for as long as their account is kept in good standing.

That is awesome. I do the thing where I pay in one lump sum every year (I think it was around $240.00) and get 90 downloads per month. I practically feel like I am stealing... such a good deal.

SA - I LOVED M.Ward live - especially his guitar-god encores (he did three in Chicago). Hope you have fun.

Now playing - "Little Willy" by Sweet.

This is an awesome song....

eta: I have fond childhood memories of going to our town's only bowling alley and playiing "Fox on the Run" and "Ballroom Blitz" on the jukebox....

Aw! I heard "Ballroom Blitz" on the radio the other day, and almost drove off the road I was so surprised.