Some folks I know have been on the Comedy Central lately...The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cSpace Module: Colbert - Urine Recycling Roomcomedycentral.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorNASA Name ContestThe Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10cTom Zoellnercomedycentral.comDaily Show Full EpisodesEconomic CrisisPolitical HumorI'm now a degree closer to both Jon Stewart
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Look who's on the TV
The Runaway Five CD release show Saturday @ Plush
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With their hilariously titled Raygunomics, Tucson's The Runaway Five have put together a tight, catchy EP of alternative rock, with a sci-fi emphasis I wouldn't have thought was possible before giving it a listen.More punk than prog (which the sci-fi emphasis might otherwise indicate), The Runaway Five bring their rock via loud guitars and just enough new wave synth. It's an energetic and fun
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Clem Snide @ Plush on Monday
Nashville's Clem Snide rolls into Tucson on Monday, touring for the new Hungry Bird album, the band's sixth. Read my review of the album in the Tucson Weekly.I caught Eef Barzelay, the band's singer and songwriter, on his solo tour last summer, also playing at Plush, and it was outstanding.Head on down for what will no doubt be another outstanding show as Eef has reassembled Clem Snide. I,
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1999
1. Flaming Lips - Suddenly Everything Has Changed - The Soft BulletinIt's actually very weird to come across a song from this album on shuffle, alone out there among the scattered masses. Aside from "Waiting For A Superman" and "Do You Realize?" I don't think I've heard anything from this album, except for in its entirety. A left-field triumph. (And you gotta love the subtitle of this one: "Death
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Tuning in(box)
Out of the Chicago area comes Overman, whose props-to-Darwin song "Evolution Rocks" has the endorsement of the National Science Teachers Association and has been used as a teaching supplement in classrooms. The song is somewhere near the They Might Be Giants ballpark, with a bit of an added-jam band feel. The band members share a five-bedroom farmhouse in Joliet, Illinois, and sound a bit zany,
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1998
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1. Soul Coughing - White Girl (live) - Rolling single (limited edition bonus disc)This live Soul Coughing set has the band at its absolute best - and just about to call it quits. No other song I know uses the word "discombobulated." Doughty and Co. should just go ahead and release this live set as some sort of 10th anniversary deluxe edition and create a whole new fandom.2. Tricky Luz - Trace -
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New Felice Brothers tune
I was mesmerized a couple years back when I first heard The Felice Brothers, an upstate New York band that sounds like Dylan and The Band if they'd gotten together before Dylan went electric.Theirs is a rowdy and ramshackle type of folk music, and though I can't help but wonder still what they hell the album title Tonight At The Arizona means, it was one of my top albums in 2007, particularly the
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Bishop Allen @ Plush
Bishop Allen builds great, catchy pop music out of its most basic elements - up-tempo guitars (major key all the way), shiny harmonies and an incessant, head-nodding beat. Aside from an uncanny mastery of those basics, Bishop Allen makes its name with additional flourishes that set the band apart - marimba, xylophone, melodica and extra hints of percussion everywhere.The band started its
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Happy Equinox
It's the first day of spring, the 'Cats are playing in their 25th consecutive NCAA tournament today, and it feels like the perfect day to just kick back and enjoy life.And here's a perfect song for just that: Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - Easy (live)
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1997
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Album:The Carnival
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1. Wyclef Jean - Anything Can Happen - The Carnival This album was huge with pretty much everybody I knew back in the day - I couldn't go to a party freshman year in college without hearing it. The Carnival was universal, and outstanding. "Anything Can Happen" should've been a single - it's one of the danciest tracks on the album.2. Pavement - Stereo - Brighten The CornersAnother hot-hot-hot
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Tucson Festival of Books recap
I'm glad that this weekend's Tucson Festival of Books was the inaugural event, and not that I'd failed to pay attention an passed up such an awesome event in years passed.Thousands of people (easy, maybe tens of thousands) hit the UA campus for book signings, panels, readings and shoulder rubbing with hundreds of authors, including plenty of locally affiliated ones and some big-time literary
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Dylan - Together Through Life
Despite waking up and putting on my Marathon Dylan playlist (the master's longest album songs, eight of them, which clock in at nearly 90 minutes), I don't think I can really claim to have any real credit for conjuring the news that his new album now has a name, a face and a release date.Together Through Life comes out April 28, and it's another "Jack Frost" production, extending this
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Odds & Ends
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On March 24, Vangaurd Records will release a star-studded tribute album to the late Doug Sahm, the still-underappreciated long tall Texan who led the Sir Douglas Quintet and later joined with Freddie Fender, Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez to form the Texas Tornados.I first heard Sahm on Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, when he swapped verses with Jay Farrar on his "Give Back The Key To My Heart." A few
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Neko Case - review and videos
My first review for the Tucson Weekly, on Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, is online now, so go check that out. Middle Cyclone debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album charts, with 44,000 sold, certainly Case's best charting ever, and probably the best for Anti- as well. So, congrats.And now for some video clips...Neko, live on Leno:Neko interview with Tavis Smiley:DOWNLOAD:Neko Case - Don't Forget Me
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1996
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1. Pearl Jam - Habit - No Code On their fourth album, Pearl Jam hadn't shown any signs of slowing, as far as I was concerned (and still am). This isn't necessarily a straight-up anti-drug song, but Vedder is obviously singing to someone who he thought would've been above the whole thing.2. Wilco - Misunderstood - Being There This is an intensely personal song for me, from my favorite band of my
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Elvis Perkins in Dearland: Show Giveaway
Elvis Perkins in Dearland is headlining a fantastic triple bill March 16 at Club Congress (next Monday), and I have a couple pairs of passes to give away, courtesy of the folks at XL Recordings.On Tuesday, March 3, Elvis Perkins In Dearland premiered their new self-titled album on Amie Street; the album only costs $8 and will help raise money for the Clearwater Foundation, Pete Seeger's charity
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West By Southwest
This is the time of year when Tucson clubs join together to give SXSW-going bands a little extra gas money for the trip. The piggy-backing WXSW has been going for a few years now, and it's a fantastic idea for all involved.Us Tucson music fans who don't feel like driving clear across Texas to have a confab with tens of thousands of hipsters and industry folks get to see one hell of a collection
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Quick recap
Not only did I have the whirlwind known as Shurlandez visiting this past week (OK, he's not so much of a whirlwind himself, but a Shurlandez visit inspires all of us other old-time Spotters into valiant action), but I had a bit of a car issue, and quite a bit of work.But I did want to pause a bit and recap the live shows: Friday's Mudhouse Records showcase at Plush and Sunday's David Rovics show
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New Dylan
New Dylan music is always a good thing, and if this latest record sounds anything like the "raw country tunes" and "seductive border-cafe feel" that David Fricke describes, then I'm even more thrilled. As of yet untitled, Dylan's 32nd studio album is scheduled to appear in late April.Apparently the songs came out of a session he did to work on a song for "My Own Love Song," a movie starring Renée
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The Hump Day Shuffle: 1995
1. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (acoustic) - Fake Plastic Trees SingleA gorgeous version of an amazing song, this B-side should be mandatory listening. And it's the other version of the Fake Plastic Trees single that contains my favorite Radiohead song, "How Can You Be Sure." Seeing Radiohead live transformed my opinion of their mid-career stuff, but I've always counted The Bends among my
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