It's Christmas time in Hollis Queens Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens

Hello friends,
Today, on Christmas Eve, I wanted to give you all at nice little present. It's called "Christmas in Hollis" and it's a little treat from Run DMC from Christmas, 1987. Enjoy!



The Rev and his family are going through a rough time, so best wishes go out to them. It's always tough losing a child.

The Jazz June reunite for one night and a special cause next month in Philadelphia. They are playing a show for their old roadie who's been diagnosed with cancer. The Jazz June were a great band that put out some fantastic albums including, 2000's The Medicine, which to this day is still one of my favorite albums.

"Formed in 1996 in Kutztown, PA, the Jazz June have survived the mid-90's "emo" explosion, its inevitable backlash and current media notoriety - and emerged relatively unscathed. The only noticeable scars appear in the form of their music - which has taken leaps and bounds beyond the simplicity of the jangly pop present on their earliest work. They've grown up in the years since - if The Medicine was their Revolver, then Better Off Without Air is the Jazz June's White Album. A varied, mature slab of catchy and impassioned indie rock that finds the band jumping a few steps up their evolutionary ladder."

is an interview with the band's guitarist, Bryan Gassler who talks about Adam's (tour mgr) health, how they never thought their last show would be their last, and the band's future plants. Give it a read.

Came across this tidbit the other day. The Limelight, now known as the Avalon, will close it's doors early next month, and become a Mini-Mall. Yikes! To be honest, it was a horrible club, with horrible sound, staff and booking, but it's fate is even sadder. You won't be missed, but sucks to be you.

The other day, I heard about this photo exhibit “Enrique Metinides photographed his first dead body before he was 12,” Michael Kimmelman writes of the man known as Mexico ’s Weegee. Shooting for pulp magazines and the newspaper La Prensa, Mr. Metinides made “visual sense out of urban mayhem and life’s general unpredictability.” The exhibit on view at the Anton Kern gallery shows gory scenes of death, accidental and otherwise; the photos are so well composed they often look like film stills, with an artistry that’s “rough and plain as day.” Enrique Metinides’s photographs, through Jan. 13 at Anton Kern, 532 West 20th Street, (212) 367-9663. I've seen Weegee's work, and from the looks of Metinde's work, it seems to be pretty awesome. A gritty look at the macabre. Yeah, not what you shouuld be talking about on Xmas Eve, but, worth checking out if you're into cool photography.

Happy Holidays and to all a good night.

More than meets the eye!

If you've been following the Tara Conner story over the last few days, and I know you have, I mean you've seen her, right! You've no doubt heard about the just turned 21, Miss USA and her scandalous behavior. Well, looks like the Donald decided not to utter his famous catch phrase, "You're Fired!". While the lovely Miss USA hasn't done anything that any 20 year old girl that heads off to say, college hasn't done, she will check herself into rehab and will stay true to upholding the image of the pageant and her duties as the winner of the crown. Lets talk about the biggest case of blowing something out of proportion, since Ross and Rachel were on a "break". "She left a small town in Kentucky and she was telling me that she got caught up in the whirlwind of New York," Trump said. Yeah, you think. She's hot! Everyone knows who she is and she wants to party. Ya think it might be tough to get out to some bars. Like people were gonna turn her away! Come on. The whole thing is ridiculous. We didn't see Jenna Bush get carted off to rehab when she got busted for underage partying. (by the way, did anyone see what Matt Damon said about her and sister Babs, the other day?) . I kinda like the idea of a really naughty party girl Miss USA. Think about it. She could start a campaign for, "liquor before beer, you're in the clear" or "no one likes a floater", but seriously, just make her do some drinking and driving PSA's or something. Can't some good come out of a young girl acting crazy. I mean, how were there not cameras on this girl the whole time? They put everyone on TV these days. Jim and Tammy Faye's dumbass punk son has his own show. Hello! If she'd gotten booted, I'm sure she had a place to stay and a new gig.

I've just seen the trailer for the new Transformers movie. It looks pretty killer. I have to say, I was a bit skeptical about them making a live action Transformers movie. I envisioned it looking like that god awful Hulk movie from a couple years ago. I didn't think they could pull it off. But director, Michael Bay, from the looks of the trailer, did not disappoint. Don't know about the cast though. Shia LaBouf, Tyrese and Josh Duhamel, come on. Josh Hartnett and Freddi Prince Jr. weren't available? However, the lovely Megan Fox, better known as the elder, finer, daughter in Hope & Faith, seems to be the lead female. She has the acting ability of a bucket of rocks, but she is lovely. But really, who cares about the actors. Everyone just cares about the Transformers and the special effects. And from the trailer, it looks pretty good. I just hope they get Shockwave up in that piece.

Listening Pile
The one show I'm really bummed I missed out on this year, was the Juno reunion earlier this month in Seattle. I really thought about just getting on a plane and sleeping on some friend's couch to see this. They put out two of my favorite albums on the Desoto label, This is the Way it Goes and Goes and Goes (1999) and A Future Lived in Past Tense (2001), plus a split with the Dismemberment Plan. To this day, every time I get on a flight, I put one at least one of their songs. Dreamy soundscapes, with washy guitars, dense and complex rhythms. They were one of those bands that just reminds me of a time and a place.
I can still remember when and where I was listening to their first album and their second. Anyhows, check out this article in Seattle's, The Stranger. TIt gives a fascinating look back on the band, the time leading up to their reunion and what singer Arlie Carstens is up to with his new project, the Ghost Wars, a long-distance collaboration with producer/musician Eric Fisher (Damien Jurado), featuring contributions from almost 20 members of the extended Seattle music community, including Rosie Thomas, Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters, members of the Blood Brothers, and more. The duo has recorded basic tracks for 25 songs, and is slowly refining 11 of them, with an eye toward releasing an album sometime next year.

I just wanna know, what are you gonna do for me?

Did anyone catch the Lost Room on Sci-Fi Network. Man do I love Peter Krause, better known for playing Nate on Six Feet Under or the criminally underrated, Casey McCall on Sports Night.(when are we gonna see that on Trio's Brilliant But Cancelled?!?!) Julianna Margulies and Kevin Pollack were great in this Mini-Series too. It had this awesome creepy X-Files vibe to it. Krause plays a detective who loses his daughter in the otherwordly lost room and spends the rest of the series unlocking it's mystery and trying to find his daughter. It was good, really good. If anyone happened to see their crazy advertising in NYC, you know it was pretty cool. Random doors put all over the city with lost room written on them. A pretty creative marketing campaign.

I came across this story last week. If you are running around with a Nike+iPod device, you could be getting tracked by someone. A University Of Washington student had a hunch that his small RFID device that fits into the soles of Nike shoes could be used "an easy surveillance device." And apparently, with a little know-how and a computers, you can track someone. A little scary huh! Puts a whole new meaning to stalking. Neither Apple nor Nike had comments on the matter. Go figure! Mr. Jobs, you know who I'm putting the blame on.

Totally forgot about the Nike ID studio here in NYC. Came across it again yesterday walking around Soho. Studio 255, located at 255 Elizabeth St, lets you make an appointment where you can create a unique iD for your kicks. I remember when the iD option first came out. You can put almost anything on the sneakers, cept foul language and slave labor jargon. Ha, crazy huh! I wonder who actually makes these sneakers though.

This was in the Revelation Records email blast the other day. If you look in the lyric booklet to the "Together" 7"
compilation (Revelation Records' second release), you'll see this group photo on the Gorilla Biscuits page. No one knew it at the time, but the photo was not a Gorilla Biscuits photo. Haha, they totally put a picture of some random dudes on there. They don't even have a clue who it is. They are asking for friends to help them figure it out. You gotta love when stuff like this happens. Does anyone remember the Billy Ripken baseball card debacle? Did anyone hear about Jets rookie Leon Washington's mishap where he stuck up his middle fingers and it went unnoticed on his rookie card. I love when this stuff happens.

As I begin thinking about compiling my 2006 best of music list, I took a look back at my 2005 iMix and list, just to see if my tastes had changed. Well, glad to say, not much. Though just looking over 2006, I am noticing, it rocked a bit more, and there weren't quite as many strong records as in years past. Coming up with a top ten for year end lists, was way harder this year, never mind a top 30. I'm gonna have to reach for that. While We're at the year end stuff, has anyone seen the 100 reasons why Pitchfork sucks list , uh... I mean , their top 100 tracks of the year list. Are you guys serious? Is this for real? Apparently, it is.

Listening Pile:
The best thing to come across my desk lately, has been the new Sonic Youth disc. It's called The Destroyed Room and compiles tracks from their Geffen days, that have been previously available on vinyl, limited compilations and b-sides. After the solid, Rather Ripped , from earlier in the year, I wondered what more they could give us. The tracks were hand-picked by the band and even includes some previously unreleased material. Putting together an outtakes comp can be kinda rough, especially for a band like Sonic Youth, that probably has tons of unreleased gems. You gotta have some rockers that are interesting enough to be worth hearing, but not interesting enough that you're left wondering why they didn't make an album. And then I'm sure there are the tracks that simply should not be heard. There is a little of both on this release, but standouts include, "Campfire", a 1999 piece spontaneously composed at a recordings session on a Groovebox sampler. "Beautiful Plateau", "Loop Cat" and "Queen Anne Chair" play up the dreamy guitar wash that inspired many. Overall, a good listen, especially considering that I was expecting 20 minute jams of guitar feedback and tape noise. Nevermind, the 26-minute version of "The Diamond Sea" from Washing Machine. Overall, not a bad collection of songs. I'm sure it's a must for any serious SY fan.