Once again, we're invoking the late Robert Haber to sell something.   Hey, if it ain't broke, why pay for repairs. See you friday!

Rose Tattoo bassist Ian Rilen passed away yesterday at the age of 58. 

In addition to being the co-author of Tattoo's "Bad Boy For Love", Rilen was a founding member alongside guitarist Steve Lucas and drummer Cathy Green, of the Sydney trio, X, whose first two albums, 'Aspirations' (1979) and 'At Home With You' (1981) are as propulsive, jagged and wildly original as any punk recordings from that era. 

Tonight, on NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien", scheduled guests include Charles Barkley and Cat Power.

Chan and the MRB are hitting Rockefeller Plaza after blowing minds at Las Vegas' Vegoose Festival.  The Round Mound Of Rebound is also no stranger to Vegas, nor is he unfamiliar with a provocative performance every now and then.  

If the young people of Baltimore didn't have enough troubles already, Chavez' December 2 show at Ottobar has been cancelled.  That said, we're happy to announce that along with the Dec. 16 show at Brooklyn's Warsaw (supported by Endless Boogie), Chavez will be playing Slim's in San Francisco on December 30th. 

From the Boston Globe's Joan Anderton.

Staind frontman Aaron Lewis is performing a concert at his alma mater, Longmeadow High School, to benefit the creative arts department there. Tickets to the show, Nov. 4 at 7:30, are $100 (includes a meet-and-greet with Lewis) and $60 and are on sale now in the school office.

Lewis, while possessing all the talent and charisma of a cardboard box, is clearly a benevolent sort.  And based on his body of work, I think we can all agree that Longmeadow's creative arts deparment is sorely in need of help.  With that in mind, let's consider the ticket prices ; $100 to witness a solo performance by Lewis is quite reasonable (compared to say, a $600 toilet seat), so why not up the ante a bit?  $100 to enter, another $200 to leave early.  $1500 for Lewis' frontal lobe.  Either you're serious about helping the kids or you're not. 

Attn : Ladies and Gentlemen.  The following serves as evidence that my spam filter really sucks. Thank you.

FIRST 200 ABSOLUTE MEAT LOAF "FANATICS" WIN RESERVED VIP ACCESS TO A SPECIAL LIVE PERFORMANCE ON THE TODAY SHOW IN NYC THIS FRIDAY, 10/27!All are welcome, but only a few deserve the VIP section.
To enter to win, please send an email no later than 6PM EST, Tomorrow, October 26th to meatloaftodayshow@yahoo.com. Your email should include:

You will ONLY be notified if you've won VIP access. If you are chosen as a winner YOU MUST HAVE LEGAL ID FOR ADMISSION TO THE SHOW!

Though I'm super impressed by these third hand claims of diva-dom, perhaps it is a good idea for support bands and headliners to keep a respectful distance from each other.

Until the end of the evening, all-star jam, of course. 

I have much love for Espers, but since when did a $600 mahogany Martin getting dinged up on a flight make the muster for a longish Pitchfork news item.  C'mon, this ain't akin to a van full of gear getting stolen nor is it a couple of mild-mannered indie rocker kids getting beat up by Houston's finest.  I mean, if you're going to give some ink to La Familia Espers, why not talk about Meg Baird's freshly-minted solo album.  Warning:  It's okay to delete your copy of Pink Moon on the Nano to make room for this one.  Don't sweat it, it's a worthy replacer.

Meg Baird: "Waltze of the Tennis Player"  (mp3 deeplink thanks to Philebrity.com)

From Billboard.com :

Elvis Presley has ceded his crown to Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain (above, middle) on Forbes.com's list as the top-earning dead celebrity. The list, published yesterday (Oct. 24), said Cobain earned $50 million between October 2005 and October 2006. Presley wound up in the No. 2 slot with $42 million, down from last year's $45 million.Forbes.com bases its dollar amounts on licensing deals for using the deceased celebrities' work or image in advertising or elsewhere. This was Cobain's first time on the list in its six years of publication. Presley has ruled the roost since its inception, said Forbes.com staff writer Lacey Rose.

Ranked after Presley is "Peanuts" cartoon strip creator Charles Schulz at $35 million. Rounding out the top five were the Beatles' John Lennon at $24 million and groundbreaking physicist Albert Einstein at $20 million, whose estate profited from such licensing deals as the popular "Baby Einstein" educational videos.

No disrespect to the 1921 winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, but if Tupac's estate isn't beating Einstein, someone is screwing up royally. 

(a photograph of a sperm sample would be highly inappropriate for a family blog such as this, so let's enjoy the wonders of Sea Monkeys, instead!)

From the Guardian's Ian "I'd Like To Collect A" Sample.

Men who use mobile phones for long periods at a time may be at risk of damaging their sperm, according to research by American scientists.Samples taken from men attending a fertility clinic revealed that their sperm declined steadily in number, quality and ability to swim as mobile phone usage increased. Where men used their mobiles for more than four hours a day, researchers found a 30% drop in sperm motility or movement and viability when compared with men who did not use a mobile phone.

Ashok Agarwal, who presented his findings at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in New Orleans, stressed the study did not prove mobile phones were damaging male fertility, but urged scientists to investigate the possibility.

On behalf of the cellular phone industry, I'd like to challenge these finding. Not me, personally (I stood too close to a microwave oven while watching "Three's Company" as a youngster, and well, the rest is history), but there's a mountain of evidence that runs contrary to Dr. Argwai's claims.  For instance, Lee Atwater hasn't impregnated anyone in years.

12/2- Barcelona, ES at Primavera Club 06 – ESTRELLA DAMM STAGE:
(with Teenage Fanclub, The Rapture, The Wrens, Bob Log III and more) 

12/8-Melbourne AUS at Meredith Music Festival

12/10-Sydney NSW at The Factory

12/11-Adelaide SA at Governor Hindmarsh

12/13-Melbourne AUS at Prince of Wales

14-Melbourne AUS at Prince of Wales

15-Sydney NSW at Gaelic Club
(tickets available from All Moshtix outlets including Fish Records, stores, Electric Monkeys, Red Eye, Coogee Bay Hotel, Central Station or moshtix.com.au, phonecharge Gaelic Club (02) 9211 1687 or moshtix (02) 9209 4614

16-Brisbane AUS at Alfred's Block Party

The first public appearances of Chavez since, well, that last ones, have been confirmed.

Dec 2 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Dec. 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw (16 +)

Endless Boogie will provide support (moral, spiritual) on both dates.

Tickets are on sale now. 

Like a not so small portion of Austin, TX  I am recovering today from the Rolling Stones' first-ever appearance in our humble town.  What conclusions can be gleaned from the Stones playing what we in the trade charitably call "secondary markets" (ie. Missoula, Boise, Regina, Wichita, El Paso, etc.) are not worth mulling in the wake of such a historic event. Amongst the highlights the local press neglected to mention : 

1) A tremendous cover of Spoon's "Don't Buy The Realistic", certain to displease tour sponsors Radio Shack.

2) The equally improbable cover of "Dicks Hate Police".  "We've never played this one in public," admitted Mick, "and we might never play it again."

3) Excellent security provided by the Hells Angels.

4) A surprise appearance by Mick Taylor.  Selling hot dogs.

5) Quoted boost to the local economy : $25 million.  Damage done to the psyche of neighborhood dogs by the show's pyro : incalculable.

image via wikipedia 

Lack of funds, time and all sorts of other obstacles kept me from attending any of the Steve Reich 70th Birthday celebrations at the Barbican, so yesterday's Freak Zone on BBC 6Music was especially agonising, as Reich himself dropped by to discuss his major works. 

If you're a Reich fan (and I sincerely hope you are), you can listen to the show here.

Personally, I find it really heartening that BBC's 'indie' radio station can actually spend a show celebrating a modern composer when they're not playing Italian 60s jazz rock, monster psychedelia, soundtrack funk and pastoral folk.

Brightblack are soooo going to fit in when they're on the show on the 5th November.  

In addition to their upcoming US dates supporting Wolfmother, Dead Meadow have been confirmed as participants alongside Spoon, Peaches, Prefuse 73 and Negative Approach (!!!!) at the inaugural FunFunFun fest, taking place at Austin's Waterloo Park, Friday, December 1st. 

(from left to right : JOC, live at Tampa's Vinyl Fever, crap bass player)

Jennifer O'Connor will be performing at "The Music Of Bob Dylan" tribute November 9 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. If the repitoire alone doesn't impress you, check out some of the other scheduled acts: Patti Smith, Cat Power, Philip Glass, The Roots, Allen Toussaint, Bob Mould, Ryan Adams, Phil Lesh, Jay Farrar, Lee Ranaldo, Roseanne Cash –Heady company indeed!

Jennifer will be playing a duet with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, who some of you might know as the famous friend of Woody Guthrie who isn't Pete Seeger. All the details you could possibly want are at this link.

When the album goes gold, we're sending one to this guy, and that's a promise. (thanks to Miwa for the link)

…now.

Since the clips of Randy Newman's visit to "The Colbert Report" will probably be taken down fairly soon, here's a more vintage take of the former's "Political Science". (helpful suggestion : fast forward past the first 57 seconds)

When thinking about how to best interactivate the two luxurious booklets in the "Better Days Will Haunt You" 2-CD set, we had a few ideas. Chauncey, our marketing intern, suggested a fancy sticker thing where everyone could make their own artwork!!! Our grumpy direct sales staff shut that down faster than you can say "gimmicky way to paint a turd."

Then Donovan at our indie PR company suggested that we run a blog contest to design a t-shirt inspired by the artwork. Our art director said, "silly indie publicists, we already have the greatest t-shirt design of ALL-TIME."

Finally, we just kicked it over to interactivator extraordinaire, Sergio (who did this and that), and the boy went all Delgado and hit one out_of_the_park.

Remember the times, the laffs and the Men at MenOfChavez.com.

http://www.wow-out.com

That is the official Wow Out! web site.  It says just about everything Gerard says below but in a flashy-interactive do up.  Bookmark it because unlike Sony Music Exec profiles on MySpace, this URL: will deliver as promised.

(BBspot link thanks to Idolator)

As a second installment of Matador's pre-order program (dubbed "Buy Early, Get Now"), we steam full speed ahead with three fan-pandering Pavement gems: a super rare live show, poster, and a very limited 7".

'Wow Out' is simple. When a customer pre-orders "Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition" from a participating store, they will receive information and a unique code via email to download an entire live Pavement show. On November 7th, customers will receive a super limited 7" with previously unreleased versions of "Blackout" and "Extradition" and a ridiculously awesome poster along with their super enhanced edition of Pavement's classic oeuvre.The Download : The download is a show recorded on April 24, 1994 at The Palace in Los Angeles. The set finds the band introducing new songs that eventually made their way on to 'Wowee'. It is a superb recording and according to our exhaustive research, this show is superrare, even among the most ardent of Pavement tape traders and archivists (though if you'd like to challenge this claim, please, knock yourself out)

Pavement at The Palace on April 24, 1994:
Box Elder
Range Life
Brinx Job
Brink of the Clouds
Unfair
Easily Fooled
Best Friend's Arm
She Believes
Silent Kid
Black Out
Summer Babe
Elevate Me Later
Heckler Spray
In the Mouth a Desert
Fight This Generation
Debris Slide

encore:
Two States
Stop Breathing

The Poster :

Remember in the last page of every MAD magazine they had a 'mad fold-in'?  Same idea here only it's a 22" x 28" poster with original artwork by Steve Keene.  All posters will be folded to ensure easy shipping.

The 7":

To make sure we're not becoming too digital, lucky customers will also get a "Wow Out"-only 7" with never before released versions of "Black Out" (a-side) and "Extradition" (b-side). According to Stephen, this version of "Black Out" (which is not the album recording) was recorded around the time 'Crooked Rain' came out. It was originally intended for a compilation curated by Thurston Moore, but that never materialized. Matador's vault plunderers found it on a reel of final mixes from the Random Falls sessions in NYC from early 1994. "Extradition" is a version with different vocals and a slightly different mix from the album version.

The download will be available to the customer within days of purchase and the 7" will ship with the customer's copy of "Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition".

We'll have a complete list of participating stores very, very soon. Until then, if you're a retailer and you'd like to take part, please write us at buyearlygetnow@matadorrecords.com.

Yet another subculture falls to the power of Early Man's live prowess. Snowboarding bowed down en mass to the band last Friday night in Seattle and are now answering to us… stay tuned to a complete line of Matador custom boards, boots  and bindings.

You can read more about it in their corporate news missive

Here's just one tasty quote: "Black Sabbath's first album, Black Sabbath was released on Friday the 13th, February 1970. Friday the 13th October, 2006 saw the third annual Capita (Snowboarding) Corporate Event, and an earth shaking live performance by heavy metal gods, Early Man."

HUH?  Anyway, we would like to issue an official warning to anyone who straps boots with polyurethane wheels on their feet… you're next!

Not one, but two mp3s are posted on the website in connection with Pavement's upcoming deluxe release "Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition." The first, for those new to Pavement, is "Rattled By The Rush," the first single off the album way back when, newly remastered and sounding better than ever.

The second, "Heckler Spray/In The Mouth Of A Desert," isn't even on the release! It comes from Pavement's long-lost live album (OLE 170) which will be available as a bonus download to anyone who participates in the Wow-Out pre-order promotion. The performance is from a Pavement show at the Palace in Hollywood on April 24, 1994, and the entire 17 song show will be available to the Wowed-Out, along with a 7" of unreleased takes, and a Mad Magazine-inspired folding poster.

Full details of how you can Wow-Out will be up shortly, along with participating retailers, but for now check out the downloads on Pavement's music page.

We are in the midst of our 2nd tour of the season – this one with the fierce force that is Portastatic.  I am sitting in the Holiday Inn lobby in Charlottesville, VA, (where I swear I just heard a MUZAK version of "Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G.  – I shit you not) – and it is pouring down rain outside.  We play tonight at the Satellite Ballroom and then tomorrow it is back up to Washington DC.  Back and forth, back and forth.

Hotel coffee sucks and I need more napping.  Someone bring the beats and I will get to rapping.  Ok, I'm clearly out of my mind.  Here are the tour dates,

with portastatic:

Newsday's Rafer Guzman has the scoop on the inaugural induction ceremonies for the Long Island Music Hall of Fame this past weekend, in which Billy Joel, Joan Jett, Dee Snider and Perry Como were honored. 

I'm not sure how much longer this will be up without registration required, but Richard Hell's thoughts on the end of CBGB's can be found on the Opinion-Editorial page of Saturday's New York Times.

In other local coverage of this historic occasion, does anyone have some insight as to why Newsday's style guide (if there is such a thing) restricts the use of the word "gestapo"?

(thanks to Frank for the tip).  

Before the days of monkeys peeing into their mouths, Nick Sylvester would treat us to quasi-more-thoughtful meta-reviews of albums none of us should otherwise notice. So, this one has our meta-radars on full alert.

AMG on Chavez:  Betters Days Are NOW With NBC's New Must See Monday!!!

Just in case an editor actually decides to show up today, the full article is after the jump… (more…)