Virtual friends of SM & The Jicks received the following missive earlier today :

You will need a wristband to get into the show. Writsbands will be available for pick up at Music Millennium‘s “east” location between 5:00 and 7:00 P.M. on the day of the show.

ALSO, wristbands will be available at the club at the normal door times. However, THIS SHOW IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVED, so get there early and stay in line.

It might’ve required a 6:30 am wakeup call for the band, but when it comes to entertaining the loyal listeners of America’s most beloved morning radio program-that-doesn’t-feature-Artie Lange, no sacrifice could be too great.  You can hear Cat Power in about an hour from now (say, 11am PST) on KCRW‘s “Morning Becomes Eclectic”

Matador’s Jesper Eklow filmed the process of cutting the vinyl for the Mission Of Burma LPs at Sterling Sound from the original tapes. Featuring legendary mastering engineer George Marino, this is the first of several clips we’ll be releasing on the subject.

Family tree connections to The Fluid aside, the above single is the greatest thing that ever happened in the city of Denver other than the time Denny Neagle sang “Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth” at karaoke. Thanks to the folks at Smooch Records, it is now available on the popular compact disc format for a price everyone can afford.  Well, everyone except Denny.

If you’re not as Syked as we are, please, keep it to yourself. Wanda will be Jay Leno’s guest tonight at 11:30pm EST.

(also appearing : Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues).

The above is the first chapter in the “random single from the collection” series, which will be happening as long as I can annoy people with it. This one is, appropriately enough, an incredibly boring French-Japanese childrens-lounge music single from 1997, recommended me by Yasuharu Konishi at a store in Tokyo the year it came out. Maybe one day it will be cool.

I’m sure many of you have grappled with this problem before. After eating (and drinking) at Sammy’s Romanian Steakhouse, and you inevitably have some steak left over… how do you heat it up? Because no way that shit’s gonna fit in a pan. (See above.) I ended up using aluminum foil in an inventive way. With a little Vouvray (ideally pronounced in the Cockney Wanker accent), steam it a bit, and yeah, it was pretty tasty. Especially served with the dry cauliflower recipe from central-northern Indian I’ve been promoting hereabouts. Support Sammy’s, btw

Happening this coming Sunday (March 2) on WFMU :

“From 5-8pm Gaylord Fields and Bob Brainen mark the halfway point of the WFMU fundraising Marathon by once again enlisting Yo La Tengo to take your calls, pledges and most importantly cover song requests, which will then be brought to life over the air! The band’s long history with the WFMU Marathon has proven that Yo La Tengo is unstoppable, and tonight’s show is a special longer 3-hour broadcast just in case that extended version of “Hocus Pocus” comes up. Gaylord co-hosts the rest of Bob’s show from 8-9pm after the band packs up as well. “

If you’re feeling like donating loot to the only non-profitable organization I’ve ever supported besides Father Bruce Ritter’s “Mittens For Boys” campaign, here’s where you can do so.

The whole of ‘Real Emotional Trash’ (LP/CD, coming March 4) can be heard at the Jicks’ MySpace page. Please, someone befriend this band so they can get some decent looking people in their Top Whatever.

In addition, the dashing quartet pictured above will be performing in the following record shops next week :

March 3 – Sonic Boom, Seattle, WA (Ballard location)
March 5 – Amoeba, San Francisco, CA (1855 Haight Street)

After Matador’s ’07 reissue of the critically acclaimed ‘Palo Santo’, we’ve been waiting & wondering about the next Shearwater full-length. We’re happy to report the resulting LP/CD ‘Rook’, not only lives up to the ridiculously high standards set by its predecessor, but should well stand as an early album of the year candidate. Produced by Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg
and recorded by Matthew Barnhart at Denton’s Echo Lab this past November and December, ‘Rook’ is an extraordinarily original work ; only on a handful of occasions have we heard an album this powerful and so rich in detail, both musically and lyrically. Shearwater’s knack for the epic is already well documented, but with all due respect to their prior efforts, the broad sweep of ‘Rook”s 10 songs is like nothing else you’re likely to experience in 2008.

“Rooks” (mp3)

We’ll have more details about ‘Rook’ in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, Shearwater have confirmed the following US dates in support of Clinic.

FRI 5/9 BOSTON, MA Paradise
SAT 5/10 MONTREAL, QC La Sala Rosa
SUN 5/11 TORONTO, ON Lee’s
MON 5/12 CHICAGO, IL Empty Bottle
TUE 5/13 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 7th Street Entry
FRI 5/16 SEATTLE, WA Neumos
SAT 5/17 VANCOUVER, BC Richards
SUN 5/18 PORTLAND, OR Doug Fir
MON 5/19 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Independent
TUE 5/20 LOS ANGELES, CA Troubadour