Nocturnal Blonde

Genius!!!

2009-09-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

I just found this on Boing Boing and since we're all on a Ramones kick lately, it really fits! OMG, they are amazing! I love Stop the Rock:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FinRaucous

Some of their covers are better than others, but you can't go wrong with any of their Ukulele covers. And you know "If it ain't Scottish, it's crap!" - SNL. :)

Vampire songs

2009-04-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris recommended some vampire/paranormal romances and I got into the show True Blood as a result, so after her acclaimed Vampire song playlist, I decided to create my own, and also a Swap-bot swap. My swap is closed, but the resulting Werewolf themed CD swap is still open ...

1. Vampires by Bumblebeez81
2. A Vampire's Proposal by Shudder to Think
3. Vampire by Sebadoh
4. Up to my Neck in You by Mark Kozelek
5. Talent is a Vampire by Bongwater
6. Riboflavin by 45 Grave
7. Neck by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
8. Love Like Blood by Killing Joke
9. Looking for Blood by the Donnas
10. Ghost vs. Vampire by Quasi
11. Freaks and Vampires by Glitter Mini 9
12. Bloody Bride by Elvis Hitler
13. Blood Makes Noise by Suzanne Vega
14. The Blood by The Cure
15. Bite Me by Electric Six
16. Bite Back by Negativland
17. Bite by Guided by Voices
18. Bela Lugosi's Dead by Godhead
19. Baby Vampire Made Me by Helium

and now on to my own Were(wolf) playlist...

Thank You For the Music

2009-02-21T22:20:00.001-08:00

I don't do Facebook, but I like Karen's meme so I figured why not.

Think of 15 albums, CDs and/or LPs that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you’re it!

1. The Knack - Get The Knack
2. Blondie - Parallel Lines
3. Matthew Sweet - Inside
4. The Three O'Clock - Ever After
5. Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche '85
6. Adam Ant - Friend or Foe
7. Berlin - Pleasure Victim
8. The Cars - Shake It Up
9. Hall and Oates - Private Eyes
10. Bloodhound Gang - One Fierce Beer Coaster
11. Big Audio Dynamite - This is Big Audio Dynamite
12. Cocteau Twins - The Pink Opaque
13. Propaganda - A Secret Wish
14. The Wonder Stuff - The Eight Legged Groove Machine
15. The Ophelias - The Big O
16. Foreigner - Foreigner
17. Pop Will Eat Itself - Go Box Frenzy
18. The Posies - Dear 23
19. Sebadoh - Bubble and Scrape
20. The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It

Okay, here's how I cheated - I had to go to 20 and I cut out a few! Basically these were the 20 albums that have affected my life the most. I know every song on the album by heart, I listen to it to this day, and probably have an LP, cassette, CD and MP3 version of each of them. These were my introduction to the rest of the band's catalog, and my favorite bands to this day are The Ophelias (you should hear their cover of The Kinks' "Wicked Annabella" - so far only on LP as far as I know), Sebadoh, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Posies and The Wonder Stuff.

Covers Scavenger Hunt 2

2009-02-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Here is the playlist from my 2nd covers scavenger hunt swap on Swap-Bot.

1. A cover of a ’50s song: Da Do Ron Ron by The Donnas (The Crystals)
2. A cover of a ‘90s song: …Baby one more time by Bowling for Soup (Britney Spears)
3. A cover that is very similar to the original: Dueling banjos by Hayseed Dixie (Earl Scruggs)
4. A cover that is very different from the original: America the beautiful by Dictators
5. A cover of a country/folk song: He stopped loving her today by Johnny Cash (George Jones)
6. A cover of a song from a musical (TV or theater): Pinball Wizard by Pickin’ On Series (The Who)
7. A cover starting with the letter P: Pebbles by Half Foot Outside (Shudder to Think)
8. A cover of a song by a girl group: Mickey by B*Witched (Toni Basil)
9. A cover of a song by a boy band: I want it that way by Dynamite Boy (Backstreet Boys)
10. A cover of a punk song: I just want to have something to do by Dictators (Ramones)
11. A cover of a Frank Sinatra song: This guy’s in love with you by Fastball (Frank Sinatra)
12. A cover recorded in the 60s: Satisfaction by Billy Strange (The Rolling Stones)
13. A cover of a Van Halen song: Hot for teacher by Ween (Van Halen)
14. A cover done in heavy metal style: Love removal machine by Great White (The Cult)
15. A cover that reminds you of Valentine’s Day or Easter: Happy loving couples by Guttermouth (Joe Jackson)
16. A cover about a break up: Give me back my man by Chicks on Speed (The B-52s)
17. Your most recent favorite cover: Virus by Sigue Sigue Sputnik (KMFDM)
18. A cover of your favorite band: It’s So Hard to Fall in Love by Superchunk (Sebadoh)
19. A cover by your favorite band (also, a cover about nighttime): Pink Moon by Sebadoh (Nick Drake)
20. A cover sung by kids: Freedom of Choice by Dev2.0 (Devo)
21. A cover with the word “love” in the title: Love like blood by Icehouse (Killing Joke)
22. A cover related to sex, drugs or rock and roll: Wasn’t that a party by Oak Ridge Boys (Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley)
23. a cover with a drink in the title: Kisses sweeter than wine by Bongwater (Pete Seeger)
24. a cover of a funny song, or a funny version of a “normal” song: Beaver patrol by Pop Will Eat Itself (The Wilde Knights)
25. a cover with a dessert in the title: I want candy by Aaron Carter (The Strangeloves)
26. a cover about your profession: Dreams of the everyday housewife by K.D. Lang (Glen Campbell)
27. a cover with a country name in the title: Mexican radio by Polvo (Wall of Voodoo)
28. a cover with a country name in the title: A new England by Too Much Joy (Kirsty MacColl)
29. a cover with a season in the title: Bummer in the summer by Smack Dab (Love)
30. a cover of or by a male singer: Cinnamon girl by Type O Negative (Neil Young)
31. a cover of or by a female singer: Solitaire by Sheryl Crow (The Carpenters)

Extras (My Current Favorites):

32. Anyway you want it by Rise Against (Journey)
33. Big mouth strikes again by Placebo (The Smiths)
34. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Cornbread Red (Green Day)
35. Cobrastyle by Robyn (Teddy Bears)
36. Hey Ya! By Lorene Drive (Outcast)
37. I Know What Boys Like by Tracey Ullman (The Waitresses)
38. The Metro by Alkaline Trio (Berlin)
39. Never Talking to You Again by Elf Power (Husker Du)
40. Strychnine by The Fall (The Sonics)
41. My Sharona by Polysics (The Knack

Ahhhh!

2009-01-30T21:22:00.001-08:00

I've found some more amazing covers! Just yesterday, I discovered:

Bowling for Soup's cover of Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself". I don't know that I've ever seen another Matthew Sweet cover, and I'm so excited!

I can't believe I never knew about Lou Barlow's cover of Ratt's "Round and Round". I'm a big Ratt fan, and a huge Sebadoh fan!

I can't stop listening to these two!

Replicant

2009-01-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

The covers I search for most (and find most of, I guess):

1. These Boots are Made for Walkin' (Nancy Sinatra)
2. Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
3. Down in the Park (Gary Numan)
4. Baroque Hoedown (Perrey/Kingsley)
5. Classical Gas (Mason Williams)
6. (I'm Always Touched by your) Presence, Dear (Blondie)
7. Jolene (Dolly Parton)
8. Girl U Want (Devo)
9. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (Mel Tillis)
10. They Don't Know (Kirsty MacColl

My Forgotten Favorite

2009-01-17T23:33:00.000-08:00

My favorite bands (not in order):

1. Sebadoh
2. Pop Will Eat Itself
3. The Posies
4. The Wonder Stuff
5. Bevis Frond
6. The Cars
7. Hall and Oates
8. Matthew Sweet
9. Shudder to Think
10. The Three O'Clock

My Favorite Things

2009-01-17T23:27:00.001-08:00

My all-time favorite songs:

1. Soothing Cacidylic by Shim Jambs
2. Every Shining Time You Arrive by Sunny Day Real Estate
3. Alone Again Or by Love (although I prefer The Damned version)
4. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
5. Savory by Jawbox
6. Pretty Ballerina by The Left Banke
7. Down in the Park by Gary Numan
8. Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell (again, I prefer the Scud Mountain Boys version)
9. Fade Away and Radiate by Blondie
10. Moving in Stereo by The Cars

Covers Scavenger Hunt

2009-01-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

The track list from my Covers Scavenger Hunt swap on Swap-Bot. I chose one song for each category, but the limit was actually 15 songs+. Here goes:

A cover with an animal in the title:

1/Shock the Monkey/Coal Chamber (Peter Gabriel)
2/100,000 Fireflies/Superchunk (Magnetic Fields)

A cover song about drinking:

3/Gin and Juice/Sissy Bar (Snoop Dogg)

A cover song from a movie: “Sky High”

4/I Melt With You/Bowling With Soup (Modern English)

A cover version of an '80s song:

5/Last Christmas/Jimmy Eat World (Wham!)

A cover song that you discovered before the original.

6/Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps/Cake (???)

A cover song that is in a different genre than the original song.

7/Drive Me Wild/Foo Fighters (Vanity 6)

A cover version of an '80s song.

8/Kokomo/Adam Green (The Beach Boys)

A cover song which has no singing/lyrics.

9/Wichita Lineman/ Friends of Dean Martinez (Glen Campbell)

A Beatles cover.

10/And Your Bird Can Sing/Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (The Beatles)

A cover of a children's song.

11/K.I.D.S. Incorporated (theme)/Bloodhound Gang

A cover of a TV theme song:

12/The Simpsons Theme/Green Day

A cover that reminds you of Halloween or Thanksgiving:

13/Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground/Film Score 5 (White Stripes)

A cover song with a number in the title:

14/Two Princes/The Moldy Peaches (Spin Doctors)

15/5 O’clock World/Bowling for Soup (???)

An original version of one of the covers you already chose:

16/Drive Me Wild/Vanity 6

A different version of one of the covers you already chose:
A cover in a different language than the original:

17/Quizas, Quizas, Quizas/Trash Pour 4 (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)

A cover where the song's gender is changed for the singer:

18/Boy U Want/Dev2.0 (Devo)

A cover song with a color in the title:

19/Back in Black/Living Colour (AC/DC)

A cover song from another era (80s version of a 60s song):

20/Surfin’ Bird/Ramones (The Trashmen)

A parody song.

21/Gump/Weird Al Yankovic (The Presidents of the USA)

A cover song about outer space.

22/Under the Milky Way/Grant-Lee Phillips (The Church)
23/Starman/Mates of State (David Bowie)

A bad cover song.

1/White Rabbit/Blue Man Group (Jefferson Airplane)
2/The Beautiful Ones/Mariah Carey w/Dru Hill (Prince)

A cover song where you like the cover but not the original.

3/Marijuana/Brujeria

A cover of a song sung by a female singer.

4/Beautiful Stranger/Jon Auer (Madonna)

A cover of a song sung by a musical group.

5/Float On/Ben Lee (Modest Mouse)

A cover of an instrumental song.

6/Classical Gas/Gallucci (Mason Williams)

A Rolling Stones cover.

7/Brown Sugar/The Grassmasters

A cover of a 70's song.

8/Tiny Dancer/Ben Folds (Elton John)

A cover with a name in the title.

9/Kim the Waitress/Material Issue (The Green Pyjamas)
10/Johnny and Mary/Placebo (Robert Palmer)

A cover with a one word title.

11/Obsession/Blue Eyed Christ (Animotion)

A cover that starts with the letter "S"

12/Sunshine Superman/Mel Torme (Donovan)
13/Save it for Later/Flashlight Brown (The English Beat)

A Michael Jackson cover.

14/P.Y.T./White Chocolate

A cover that tells a story.

15/Seed Song/Atom and his Package (Mountain Goats)
16/I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home/Countdown Singers

A cover about a food item.

17/Cinnamon Girl/Type O Negative (Neil Young)
18/Raspberry Beret/Derailers (Prince)
19/Incense and Peppermints/Adult Net (Strawberry Alarm Clock)

Covers Challenge II

2009-01-03T22:18:00.001-08:00

Here is the track listing for my 2nd Swap-Bot swap dedicated to specific covers. The rules were to have at least 5 sets of songs where one was a cover and the other was either another cover of the same song or the original. The last were five covers done of songs from the same band. It was a lot of fun.

1/Love My Way/The Polyphonic Spree (Psychedelic Furs)
2/Love My Way/Grant-Lee Phillips (Psychedelic Furs)
3/Wave Of Mutilation/Joy Zipper (the Pixies)
4/Wave Of Mutilation/Kristin Hersh (the Pixies)
5/Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town/Leonard Nimoy (Mel Tillis)
6/Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town/Kenny Rogers (Mel Tillis)
7/Jolene/Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (Dolly Parton)
8/Jolene/Olivia Newton-John (Dolly Parton)
9/Quizas, Quizas, Quizas/Trash Pour 4
10/Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps/Cake
11/Shadowplay/Phobia (Joy Division)
12/Shadowplay/Joy Division

The Cure covers:

13/Just Like Heaven/Dinosaur Jr.
14/The Love Cats/DJ Bootious Maximus
15/Friday, I’m in Love/Glo-Worm
16/Jumping Someone Else’s Train/Plural
17/In Between Days/Ben Folds

Unofficial song lyrics

2008-03-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am just as bad as anyone in singing the correct song lyrics, but this one just gets me. I love The Smithereens, especially their song "Behind the Wall of Sleep". I was happily singing along one day when I realized I had the line wrong since the '80s! Of course I think mine is much, much better, and would love to cover this just to do it my way.

Pat DiNizio sings:

"She had legs that never ended, I was halfway paralyzed."

But don't you think my version is one million times better?:

"She had legs that ever ended, I was halfway down her thighs."

Am I right or am I right?

I was happy today to find that there is a cover of this great song. It's not much of a cover, but it's a cover nonetheless. In his "The Unofficial Art Vandelay Tapes" (yes, named after the Seinfeld quote), Graham Parker not only covers "Behind the Wall of Sleep", but a Who favorite of mine, "Substitute" and Herman's Hermits' "I'm Into Something Good". That's my favorite cover on this collection, not only because I associate it with the Naked Gun movie soundtrack!

Sound Check

2008-02-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

Since it looks like I won't be using my vast knowledge of sound theory for good or evil, I thought I would make a collection great uses of sound in television and film. I never did know where this fit in, though, film shown on television. It's on HBO so it's not edited in any way, and we have an HDTV, but I don't have the theater-going experience (yet) in my bedroom. Anyway, here goes:

* at 7 minutes in to Die Hard 2, they use the ominous music that is highlighting the bad guys entering the church to segue into the airplane noise and John Maclane's wife on her way home. Very well done.

November's cover recommendation

2007-11-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I discovered Napster, and I loved it, not because I was too cheap to buy CDs, but because I was able to find digitized versions of music I already owned on album but weren't on CD, and because I was able to discover some great new covers.

One of the covers I discovered years ago on Napster was Deftones' amazing cover of the Jawbox song "Savory". I was already a fan of this song because of it's lilting hook, and possible (?) reference to a great coffeehouse in Takoma Park, MD. When Deftones covered it, it took a really great song just a bit further, adding just a bit more rock to a pretty rocking song. (If I had gotten the music degree that the UCLA music library suggested, I might have better tools for describing this, but suffice it to say it is just a bit different, but still a great song.)

That is one of the keys to a good cover to me. The first is a totally different, often parody-like version of a song, like my favorite Dolly Parton covering REO Speedwagon's "Time for Me to Fly". The second is when they add just a little to a song that is already amazing. For example, The Thermals slightly more rocking version of Elliott Smith's "Ballad of Big Nothing" (BTW, the Foxymorons' version sucks! - we don't need a Beach Boys version of this genius!), or Dealership's version of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom".

Anywho, I loved that cover. For some unknown reason, I never investigated Deftones further to see if they had any other covers. Well, this week I happened upon the entire album that featured their "Savory" cover, and oh boy, was that just the tip of the iceberg!

First, they also do a cover of one of my favorite Duran Duran songs, "The Chauffeur". With a bit of investigating apparently there are some other covers of this song, but none as haunting as the Deftones version. One of my favorite parts of not only this cover, but all the covers on this "B-Sides and Rarities" album, is that they take songs that are extremely synthesizer based and translate them into rock songs using predominately guitars. It is a subtle difference, but a very interesting one. I believe they also take a highly produced drum track (Duran Duran had a real drummer, I think) and make it more truly rock and less "pop". Or maybe even less '80s, who knows.

The piece de resistance of this album is something I never envisioned and in fact I'm not sure I've ever seen before. *Deftones do a cover of Cocteau Twins!!!!*

You remember Cocteau Twins: the ethereal/goth duo where no one knew what the lead singer was singing, but she insisted it was English? I can't believe not only that someone could translate her words, but do it so well! I am in love with Deftones' version of "Wax and Wane" and would love to see more Cocteau Twins covers! Anyone?

Cover of the Month (oops!)

2007-09-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

I meant to come back and add more covers, but I guess I got too distracted listening to covers to remember to come back and write about them!

When I'm not listening to the amazing Espers covers I wrote about last time, I'm enjoying Pete Yorn's cover of The Smiths' "Panic". I love this cover, which is true to the original, yet sounds like a Pete Yorn song. After enjoying it for a month or so, I learned to appreciate it on a different plane when watching the original Smiths video on VH-1 Classic. I have always enjoyed this song, but I didn't know much more of the lyrics than the catchy "hang the D.J." hook. I enjoy it so much more now knowing most of the words, and recognizing that Pete Yorn took the British location references out and replaced them with obscure American references that at least people who have lived in L.A. will appreciate perhaps more than obscure British references. That is of course assuming you aren't a British expatriate living in the U.S. In that case, you might be offended by Pete Yorn's mangling of your historical references!

In any case, if you're a Smiths, Pete Yorn, British, Los Angeles or just good music fan, you should check this out.

Music update

2007-08-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

You know, I think about posting about my musical finds all the time, but they don't really fit in with my blog's theme, so I forget.

But I've been getting back into music again. Part is due to the iPod I got for Mother's Day and part is due to my Swap-Bot CD swaps, where I have gotten some great new musical finds.

I need to get my old covers site back up (the link is to the old Geocities account I had that I lost access to when Yahoo bought them out and then I was mysteriously locked out of my Yahoo account in November 2000. But no, I'm not bitter ;) I'm mostly annoyed that you can't contact Yahoo to tell them to just take the site down!) and updated a bit. I know there are other covers sites out there, but I've been into and organizing and researching covers since 1993 and just because my site never got any magazine press like those that shall not be named, doesn't mean mine had no merit. But I digress.

In any case, I'd like to revisit my old idea: cover of the week. It had originally been of the week, then I got into parenting and it became cover of the month. Now my parenting duties are getting a bit lightened, and I can be back to cover of the week!

To start us off, let's talk about a great covers EP I just got turned on to. It's by Espers, a folk/rock/electronic band that now has 3 albums including The Weed Tree, which is all "covers". I use quotes, because a couple of the songs are basically "traditional" songs that don't have a specific artist that they are associated with, but have been handed down through our history. In this EP, these songs are "Rosemary Lane" and "Black is the Color", both I really like.

The first song I was introduced to on this album was "Flaming Telepaths", which is a Blue Oyster Cult cover. I did ultimately get a copy of the original and it's pretty good, but the cover is just amazing. And double the length! They made this 5 minute song 10 minutes, but it is still entertaining, with the heavy synthesizers and folk like vocals.

I am also in love with "Tomorrow", which I found out recently was a cover of The Durutti Column. I do have a Durutti Column album that I bought for their great cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and it turns out that this is the album that has their version of "Tomorrow"! It is a nice song, but just doesn't have the heartfelt emotion that Espers version has. They really take the "Cat's in the Cradle" element of the lyrics of this song ("All I ever wanted was your time. All you ever gave me was tomorrow.") and amplify them. Genius.

Also on this EP are "Afraid", a song done by Nico, sometimes associated with The Velvet Underground, "Blue Mountain", a song done by Michael Hurley, an early folk rock pioneer who has influenced many current artists, and "Dead King", an Espers original.

All in all, this EP is highly recommended if you like folk, indie, Americana, or just great music.

Covers update

2006-12-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've been checking out a lot of new covers on TV commercials, movies, iTunes and XM Radio. Here are the highlights:

Joshua Radin does Yaz's "Only You". It's a bit slow, I like Allison Moyet doing it better.

Usually I love Jimmy Eat World, and love the Wham song "Last Christmas" but their version doesn't do much for me. It was on an O.C. compilation I think.

I was "hipped" to a cover of Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" done by Mariah Carey and some guest singer I'm not familiar with. Not a fan. The original is hauntingly beautiful. Mariah overdoes it like she does everything. Too bad, it had possibilities, like Dolly Parton doing REO Speedwagon.

Also pretty good: I bought the two latest Electric Six CDs, and on their Senor Smoke CD they do a cover of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga". I'm not a huge fan of the original, but this cover is okay. I guess I'm just a sucker for the Electric Six.

Oh why, oh why?

2006-10-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

Why is "Weird Al" Yankovic (and me too, actually) married? I am so in love with him! Have you heard his new album "Straight Outta Lynwood"? Genius! I think the parody of Green Day's "American Idiot" into "Canadian Idiot" is so amazing! (I wonder if our Northern friends are insulted or think it's funny too?)

And as always, he has another polka medley of popular music. I was a bit worried that I don't listen to popular music enough anymore to even know what songs he was covering, but I had heard enough of them to appreciate it. And the banjo in this one is top notch! I am so jealous of his wife! The closest I ever got to his greatness was watching him cross Gayley Ave. in Los Angeles when I was living there. Not close enough.

The future

2006-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Back in the mid-90s, tribute collections were all the rage. George Plasketes even wrote a discography of some of the better ones up to 1995.

Then in the early 2000s we had the film soundtrack. It seemed like every soundtrack was full of covers.

Now, another 5 years later, it's the television soundtrack. First of all, I find it interesting that television shows are better at introducing you to new bands than films or even radio. But now they add the interesting covers as well. Today alone I heard a strange cover on some commercial, and then the most recent E.R. ended with a very nice (maybe even better than the Posies' version -- or maybe not ;) ) cover of "Ooooh Child".

Who would have thought that television would be the future?

My list

2006-09-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my ongoing list of the songs I am going to cover one of these days:

1) Down in the Park by Gary Numan
2) Dan Loves Patti by Yum Yum
3) Nocturnal Blonde by The Ophelias
4) Passive Restraints by Clutch
5) Candy by Magnetic Fields
6) Dreams of the Everyday Housewife by Glen Campbell

to be continued.

You don't have to be gay ...

2006-09-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

I don't just love covers, I love songs and albums that refer to other bands. If you check out the Pansy Division site and click the "audio" link, there are mp3s of their songs, including an unreleased cover of "Son of Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield and their amazing cover of Wall of Voodoo's "Can't Make Love". At the end there are also covers of their songs done by other bands, including an amazing cover of "Bunnies" and a song by Pre Basso Continuo called "You Don't Have to be Gay to like Pansy Division (But it Helps)". Great advice! I love Pansy Division!

P.S. Speaking of Pansy Division, Clay Aiken is releasing a covers album. A man covering Dolly Parton? What's next? Check out Sarah's blog comments for some great suggestions.

Where to begin?

2006-09-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

I guess finding covers goes in spurts. Or then again I used to have all the time in the world, more record stores, and more money. But today was a banner day, when Maia introduced me to Jonathan Coulton. She showed me his country-fied (sort of -- he mentions banjos but I didn't hear much) version of "Baby Got Back" which of course I loved, but then I found his version of Rick Springfield's "Don't Talk to Strangers" and I was hooked.

Then later I was reading blogs when I came across 100 Records. First things first -- why do "conservatives" (I use the quotes because they are currently "liberally" spending our money and starting wars, but I digress.) a) have to talk about how much they hate "liberals" so much? I mean buttons, links, etc. Honestly. I hate Republicans but I never (okay, rarely) blog about it and certainly wouldn't put up an anti-anything button on my blog. I even hate the "ad-free blog" buttons! or b) hate Hillary so much? Honestly, we non-Republicans don't love her. She's not our poster child or anything, but you seem to think she is.

*Anyway*, on 100 Records I found some more bitchin' (yes, the '80s are back. Deal with it.) covers! There are currently links to a band called Nouvelle Vague's really slow, interesting cover of "I Melt With You" by Modern English, and The Melvins' version of The Cars' "Candy-O". Genius!

So many covers, so little time.

P.S. Dragzter does "Kids in America", for my potential future website update. Don't hold your breath.

Best cover band ever

2006-09-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Such range -- I love Ash as a recorded cover band. Have you ever heard any of their versions of pop music? They do an amazing cover of Abba's "Does Your Mother Know" on an okay Abba covers compilation (not available on Amazon for some reason) and also one of my favorite Ween covers, "What Deaner Was Talkin' About". Check them out!

Every Day is Halloween

2006-08-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

So where is my Severed Heads tribute album? Hello, Cleopatra? Nettwerk?

I truly enjoyed watching them in the late '80s at the [old] 930 Club and I can't be the only one impressed by their electronic music. I guess it's up to me to create the Moog versions of Severed Heads classics "Hot With Fleas" and others.

Blogging Conference!

2006-07-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

Quick update (x-posted): I did my training session for BlogHer '06 tonight. I'll be helping on the audio recording on the lunch keynote speech, digital photography, design and style, and video presentations tomorrow (I'll learn a lot!) and on Saturday I get to work on the (ooh, ooh ...) craft blogs discussion, business blogs discussion (Susie Bright is in the next room, darn!) and "Next Level Naked" (I don't even know how to explain that one!).

The meeting so far has been fun, I met a lookalike and made some contacts. I can't wait for tomorrow! I need to find some portable knitting ...

Yuck!

2006-05-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

I was waiting so long for Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs' new covers CD to come out, and all I can say is Yuck! They have ruined my favorite song of all time, "Alone Again Or" by Love. Oh, Matthew, couldn't you have stuck with the Pixies covers?

Other bad versions of Alone Again Or:

Calexico
Oblivians
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
UFO

The UFO one is okay, pretty close to the original Mariachi music. Do yourself a favor, stick with The Damned. You can't go wrong with that cover.

Best new video

2006-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

The best video since the "Kim The Waitress" tribute to "Delicatessen" is the new video from 30 Seconds to Mars. It was so close to "The Shining" (not sure if they were going for the original movie or that rather bad TV version that had the official Stephen King stamp of approval) that it was literally scary! I loved the skateboard version of the big wheel scenes. Amazing.

I wasn't sure if Jared Leto was actually in the band or not, but he is, and he was just great!

Top 5 Gary Numan covers

2006-04-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

I love my Gary Numan covers compilation!

1. I Die You Die by The Magnetic Fields
2. Stormtrooper in Drag by Saint Etienne
3. Cars by The Judybats
4. Are 'Friends' Electric by Information Society
5. Down in the Park by Marilyn Manson

New Top 5 List

2006-04-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

This will eventually get to my site, but without further ado, my most recent "Top 5 Covers" list:

TOP 5 SLO-CORE COVERS
or, Top 5 slo-core versions of faster pop songs

1. "I Die You Die" by The Magnetic Fields
2. "Blue Eyed Devil" by Low
3. "Mad World" by Michael Andrews ("Donnie Darko" soundtrack)
4. "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" by Robert Schipul
5. "Such Great Heights" by Iron and Wine

A new list!

2006-04-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

I just realized why I haven't been into music, well not not into music, but not into discovering new music, lately -- because I haven't had any work lately. I used to work at home, doing real estate research. That has dried up in the past year and I haven't been sitting at the computer for endless lengths of time listening to music. Right now I've been lucky enough to get some work, and am formulating the next "Top 5" list for my covers collection. Stay tuned for Iron and Wine, Low, and someone from Teen Beat. Can you guess the theme?

Free CDs!

2006-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

We're spring cleaning and getting rid of our CDs. This is a list of CDs that if you send me $1 for U.S. shipping (or the actual shipping outside of the US) I'll send the CD to you for free. Unless of course you want to send me some yarn or chocolate in exchange ;) ! Comment here if interested.

**Richard Barone -- Primal Dream
**Beck -- Loser (single)
**Black/Note -- Jungle Music
**Blink 182 -- Enema of the State
**The Breeders -- Last Splash
**Cardigans -- First Band on the Moon
Cars Get Crushed - Blue and West
**Dramarama -- Hi-Fi Sci-Fi
**Echo and the Bunnymen -- The Cutter
**Enigma -- Enigma
**Godheadsilo -- Share the Fantasy
**Groove Collective -- Groove Collective
**Harvey Danger -- Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone
**Jimi Hendrix -- The Ultimate Experience
**Huffamoose -- We've Been Had Again
**I Am Not A Test Market Restless sampler including Sister Psychic, aMiniature, etc.
**I Know what you did last summer soundtrack
**The Kickovers -- Osaka
Longwave - The Strangest Things
**Magic Dirt -- Friends in Danger
**Marcy Playground -- Marcy Playground
**Mary's Danish -- Circa
Masters of the Hemisphere - Protest a Dark Anniversary
**Mensclub -- Coming to Take You Away
**Monsterland -- Loser Friendly
**Mudhoney/Gas Huffer -- Piece of Cake
**Pink Floyd -- The Final Cut (original pressing)
**Pitchblende -- Au Jus
**Rich Creamy Paint -- Rich Creamy Paint
**Sabalon Glitz - Ufonic
**Salvatore -- Fresh
**Something Happens -- Stuck Together With God's Glue
**Sportsguitar -- Happy Already
**Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood soundtrack
Trans Slovenia Express
**Wheatus -- Wheatus
**Wigstock original soundtrack
**Yatsura -- Slain by Yatsura

2006-01-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

So I was finally listening to some of those CDs that my DH has bought recently when I came upon a great one - M83. I was hoping their song "God of Thunder" was a Kiss cover, but even though it isn't (I don't think) it is amazing! On that note, here is my list of favorite CDs of the 21st century:

The Dresden Dolls
The Secret Machines
Morningwood

It's scary this is such a small list, isn't it? So far I've liked some songs here and there but usually I only like one song per CD so it's otherwise a waste. But those three have more than one amazing song!

It's me!

2005-12-31T19:28:00.000-08:00

From 12/13/02:

http://www.gameshowfavorites.com/Wintuition/epguide1.html

The death of CDs

2005-11-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a great article from the San Francisco Chronicle on the death of CDs and how else to find new music.

My new music blog

2005-09-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Like I need another blog. But I desperately miss my favorite band, The Ophelias. Right now I'm loving Morningwood. Very punk, Blondie, etc., and just the right bit of novelty.