I think I must interject here

dear friends,

woke up with news of more london bombings. am saddened by the news. my heart is with blighty.

the morning also brought me a strong 8 on the richter scale of crippledom. can walk but it doesn't look very nice. think: the hammer horror mummy. am depressed about the gimp-itude. so ends the longest run in a while of non-pain & mobility. getting hopeful & all that jazz. I stare at my shufflin' ipod. I am glad I have working ears.

1. in the sidebar I've added "ghetto-style listings of upcoming nyc shows". it is ghetto 'cause I don't know how to give each listing a bullet or even link it to anything BUT I still feel that we needed some listings much like when back in the day I was grateful for the huge chunk of government cheese the soldiers would give us even if the stuff was so suspect it wouldn't melt in the toaster. it forced us to get creative.

if you are a contributor or even just a reader & you plan to play in nyc OR there's a show that you feel should be listed by artist(s) you enjoy, let me know & I will update the listings accordingly. if you are a contributor & you have a problem with my lack of 'net finesse & ohmygodthere'snolinks!, please contact me with your suggestions.

2. for a very good tip, check out this post from contributor liz over at the people's dance party. in other contributor news, check out this radio broadcast (click most recent) by none other than contributor phil on east village radio. he sounds very serious. I believe it's because he takes his music seriously. his setlist includes quite a few songs that are faboo so check it out.

3. joy zipper were featured on a postcard given out at siren fest. the picture said (not in words, duh) we are a girl & a boy & we enjoy pasta. interesting marketing choice. I heard about them on KCRW a whiles back & promptly investigated their album american whip. their sound has heavenly shafts of sunshine-y beach boys harmonies (courtesy of the aforementioned spaghetti lovers) but things don't stay very safe 'cause whenever the guitars come in & the boy part of the singing equation takes over, the songs turn into mini-celebrations of jesus & mary chain & spiritualized. interesting, heh? I like it but I like the spaceman so if you do as well or just like the xx/xy, go find their sweetly cool space-rock ode, christmas song, which speaks of feeling someone the most when you're "deep in madness" which sounds ridiculous but it's sung so dreamily that you figure that the singer's just dizzy from the swirl. or if you want something a bit more peppy, try & find out of the sun which breaks out with happily splashed cymbals & loud in the mix bass & then before you know it, you're covered in orange juice. it's that sweet. file under: california sunshine for shoegazers. to judge for yourself, come to mercury lounge, friday night and check them out. I believe they go on at ten but I would check with the venue.

4. speaking of girl/boy sweetness, try as I might to resist that generalissimo of cute & fuzzy, ben gibbard, he keeps winning me over. & I hate the o.c.! the first time I heard the postal service, I started bopping my head & doing what I thought was a very sinuous interpretive dance. there's just the right kinda keyboard swell to it all their numbers that sound makes me hop-along happy. I like gurgles & slow dawning wake-up calls which is how I hear songs like such great heights. it percolates like a coffee machine that's about to break out in a dance routine & how awesome would that be as you wipe the sleep from your eyes in the morning?

but truly my favorite track on the album is nothing better. because there's the happy electronics & the pretty duet but it's sad as hell. gibbard sounds so nice & reasonable when he sings to his ex that they should get back together, marry & be happy that when the ex (jenny lewis) comes in with the screeching brakes to tell him, eh no, that's not how it was & it's not how it is, the weight of his delusion hits you oddly. you don't realize what's going on until the song ends & it's over pretty fast. this unsettling combination of bounce & unsparing relationship x-ray made me wonder what kind of diabolical creature the pleasant faced gibbard is when he's at home. I can't wait for his next side project. whether it's bossa nova or hardcore, it should intrigue.

5. everyone likes the bomp ba bomp chhhh X2 intro of the ronettes' be my baby so it's been done to death by various musical types. that being said, I find the retro-stylings of the ponys' little friends quite sweet as rip-offs go. with a chiming guitar hook cribbed from the byrds, a vocal lifted from the drool of a grungy slacker & backing too-too-roos; I want to hate it 'cause it's basically a tiny frankenstein of a garage rock song but...I find I can't. they picked the best parts of the monster. good job on that one, young band. I shall research you further.

love, d

songs to seek: christmas song/joy zipper, out of the sun/joy zipper, nothing better/the postal service, little friends/the ponys