randomness personified

dewey schmooey

Look, I didn't plan on spending my entire day trying to alphabetize around 2,000 CDs. It just sort of worked out that way. In fact, I had a lot of things I wanted to get done today. But the rain and my alphabetic momentum kept me from them.

Hey, I know way too many librarians (my mother and at least three regular readers). Shouldn't somebody have been helping me with this? Sigh.

smiles ahead

Try this little ditty. Don't know what it really is but it's certain to make you smile (and probably scratch your head). I loves it.

Link nicked from Jesse. Happy belated birthday, pally. It sounded pretty blissful.

casing the joint

I'm going to stop making an entry everytime somebody submits a new Case For Song. Just keep looking, okay? I'm going to gussy up the site tomorrow, too.

The esteemed Ken Goldstein has written a great little piece about a little nugget of Britpop that I also happen to love. I mean, Jarvis Cocker tried to kick Michael Jackson's ass. What's not to love about the man?

still making the case

A new essay by Tiffany is up at A Case For Song. Thanks, Tiff!

Tiffany, who has known me for nearly twenty years, also seems to think that I'm a music snob and goes so far as to say that I scare her! What?! Okay, I'm a bit snobby but, I assure you, my bark is harmless. Also this isn't about picking music that's special to me. I get to do that every day around here. I certainly hope people would feel welcome to contribute whatever they want.

So check it out and keep 'em coming!!

better living through music

Winter is always pretty slow in NYC for concerts. Summer isn't much better as everyone scatters to the Hamptons or the shore. Spring, now, that's where it's at. In the last week alone I've bought tickets to Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt, The Minus 5 (with Wilco), and Wilco & Sonic Youth. I'm particularly excited about the latter as it's at Central Park Summerstage. I've never been to a concert in the park.

Lady Crumpet also promised to stand on line for days with me this summer to get Shakespeare tickets. Okay. She's didn't promise. I'm gonna make her, though... :-)

I'm also excited about the possibilities of :

* Joe Jackson Band @ Irving Plaza
* Ute Lemper @ Town Hall
* The Sea & Cake @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Flaming Lips @ Roseland
* Throwing Muses @ Irving Plaza
* Dave Alvin @ Bottom Line
* John Wesley Harding, Lucy Kaplansky & The Nelds @ Symphony Space
* Linda Thompson @ Joe's Pub
* Laura Cantrell @ The Fez
* Kasey Chambers @ Irving Plaza

And those are just in the next seven weeks...

the strongest weapon

One of randomness' favorites have a new anti-war song available for your listening pleasure. I think it's quite nice. Please turn an ear to R.E.M.'s "Final Straw."

It doesn't hold. Now I don't believe and I never did
That two wrongs make a right.
If the world were filled with the likes of you
Then I'm putting up a fight. Putting up a fight.
Putting up a fight. Make it right. Make it right.

Now love cannot be called into question.
Forgiveness is the only hope I hold.
And love-- love will be my strongest weapon.
I do believe that I am not alone.
-Buck/Mills/Stipe

our little secret

To the person who has landed here the last two days searching for Sparkles Male Professional Model - that's my stage name. We don't use it here, okay? Sheesh...

making the case

I've been struggling with an easy way to put A Case for Song in motion. I'd been pasting to a notepad HTML file for the first few and decided that once more start trickling in (and they will start, right?) that it was going to be very painful.

Then Paul suggested the obvious. Another Moveable Type blog. D'oh.

So it's up here. It's not too pretty right now. Just a default template. I'll mess with it tomorrow. Been staring at code all day long. No stomach for it right now.

However... You now can comment on peep's submissions. Hop to it!

just waiting

I don't know why, I'm but I'm particularly melancholy tonight.

Well, that's not entirely true. I guess I have more than a general idea. The world gives one a pretty good reason to feel blue these days, doesn't it?

Spring is in the air but that same air is filled with uncertainty and apprehension. What's around that next corner? Will I ever find that someone again? When, if ever, will our world be a better place? I just feel like I'm living a Devlins song (right click, save as).

And if you ever change you mind,
you know I'm not hard to find.
And if you ever need someone,
I'll still be waiting...

spread the love

Cory's addition to A Case For Song is now up. Check it out. It begs another interesting question, too.

Music is, to me, one of the greatest things to share with another person. Like Cory, I enjoy introducing people to new musical experiences. Lord knows that I've acquired most of my musical preferences from others. My obsession with Elvis Costello certainly stems from Melinda Terry. My penchant for '80s gloom started with my gang of pals labelled "The Mutants." My Steve Earle and alt-country fetish probably owes more to Dennis than anyone else. I've really "discovered" very little on my own.

However, I'll always have that night in 1990 when I stumbled into the 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia just wanting to see live music. That was the first night I experienced the amazing power of Vic Chesnutt and it's world that I try to share with others. Whenever given the opportunity I wax poetic about Vic. I know that many of you regulars have been subject to such ranting. Sorry :-)

So what music do you like to help others discover?

Oh, and who wants a copy of my own creation - "Humble & Gracious - A Vic Chesnutt Primer?"

Keep the essays coming!!

uncontested

I've just made an important decision.

The greatest song ever written about boxing is Warren Zevon's "Boom Boom Mancini."

That is all.

my favorite michigander

How I love you, Michael Moore.

come on people

Sure, it's hippy-dippy. Sure it has some strange religious undertone. However, I think the world needs some of The Youngbloods right about now (right click, save target as).

admiral ass

David Robinson of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs is supposedly an intelligent man. He went to the Naval Academy and is generally well-spoken. He had this to say about people who don't support our aggression -

"If it's an embarrassment to them," Robinson added, "maybe they should be in a different country, because this is America and we're supposed to proud of the guys we elected and put in office."

Do I need to comment? There are so many things I could say...

making the case

The first of the song essays are up here. Yeah, the page isn't anything fancy. I'll fix it up a bit tomorrow. I just wanted to get something up there.

I'd love it if everyone contributed at least one lil' thought. Just send 'em to me at mike@mikewolf.net.

Enjoy!

happier times

Won't you let me walk you home from school
Won't you let me meet you at the pool
Maybe Friday I can
Get tickets for the dance
And I'll take you

Won't you tell your dad, "Get off my back"
Tell him what we said about "Paint It, Black"
Rock 'n Roll is here to stay
Come inside where it's okay
And I'll shake you.

Won't you tell me what you're thinking of.
Would you be an outlaw for my love
If it's so, well, let me know
If it's "no," well, I can go.
I won't make you.
-Chilton/Bell

a kinder, gentler atrocity

I'm not going to prattle on too much about our uninvited aggression in Iraq. I figure there are many, many places that you can get unbiased opinions about such matters. This isn't one of them. Nope. I wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to this situation.

However, I do have to point out what seems to me to be an interesting public relations twist to this event. In the months leading up to our invasion we were constantly defending our position by couching it in terms of "a matter of our national security". People didn't like that. They didn't see the threat. Instead we've now tried to call it a liberation. Those poor Iraqis. We need to free them from their evil dictator. That worked in WWII, right? We liberated Europe and the world loved us. The problem is that that's not how we have been trying to sell our position to the rest of the world.

Operation Iraqi Freedom. More like Operation Revisionist History.

I leave you with this...

At the White House, officials said that just before Bush addressed the nation, he pumped his fist, winked, and said "I feel good." He then delivered his address, which lasted four minutes.

I bet you do, I bet you do.

a case for song

Well, I've gotten enough people to promise to play along. This could be fun! I've stolen the title from a relatively obscure Elvis Costello concert video. I thought it very apropos for our day.

There are no rules. Just write up something about a song that means something to you and e-mail it to me at mike@mikewolf.net. Meredith has contributed the first entry. Once I get a couple more I'll put the page up.

I also made this cheapy little graphic. Feel free to put it where you like. The more the merrier.

a celebration of song

In these troubled times we all could use something joyous to read, don't you think? Well, I've come up with a little idea. I'd really like it if people would write a little essay about a song that they love. Be it your "favorite" song or one that just means something to you, write up a little bit about why you love it.

I did this one a few weeks ago for "Battered Old Bird." I can make a little graphic for this endeavour and start a page just filled with people's missives.

What do you think? A good idea?

sharing is caring

Just had to share a very strange experience this morning. In the morning I tend to watch the Today show while I'm getting ready. It's a New York-centric show and it's just the sort of fluff one needs to start the day. Not too heavy, not too light.

Well, this morning I turn it on as they're going out to Al in Rockefeller Plaza for the weather. You know the scene, he's going around the lines of screaming tourists. What happened next still seems bizarre to me. It went like this -

"And who are you?"
"The Marshall Singers," followed by a generic cheer.
"From Marshall..."
"Marshall, Michigan"
"Can you sing for us?"

And with that a small group of pimply boys from my hometown serenaded the nation with our National Anthem.

Marshall, Michigan. Population 7,000. Too strange for words.

He who fights with monsters

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

supernatural

Vic Chestnutt is embarking on what has to be his biggest tour in the better part of a decade. If he comes to your fair town be sure to drop in and tell him I sent ya...

Apr 4 Fri Atlanta, GA at Echo Lounge
Apr 5 Sat Carrboro, NC at Carrboro Arts Center
Apr 7 Mon Arlington, VA at IOTA Club & Cafe
Apr 8 Tue Philadelphia, PA at North Star Bar
Apr 10 Thu New York, NY at Knitting Factory
Apr 11 Fri Brooklyn, NY at Southpaw
Apr 12 Sat Cambridge, MA at House of Blues
Apr 14 Mon Toronto Ontario, Canada at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
Apr 15 Tue Ann Arbor, MI at Blind Pig
Apr 16 Wed Louisville, KY at Headliners Music Hall
Apr 17 Thu Champaign, IL at Ward's New Place
Apr 18 Fri Chicago, IL at Martyr's
Apr 19 Sat Madison, WI at Orpheum Stage Door
Apr 21 Mon St. Paul, MN at The Turf Club
Apr 25 Fri Vancouver, BC at Richard's On Richard's Cabaret
Apr 26 Sat Seattle, WA at Tractor Tavern
Apr 27 Sun Portland , OR at Dante's
Apr 29 Tue San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill
Apr 30 Wed San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill
May 2 Fri West Hollywood, CA at Troubadour
May 3 Sat Tucson, AZ at Solar Culture Center

i will follow

I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into when I went to see Bono yesterday. I knew that there were to be two interviewers, one to discuss music and the other to discuss worldly events. I also knew that most of the tickets went to U2 mailing list members. I knew I was to be surrounded by fan boys and girls.

I got to the venue a bit early. Bono was supposed to start at 4:00 and doors were supposed to open at 3:30. I arrived at about 3:00. The place was already packed. Several people looked like they had been there for several hours. The auditorium holds 500 people and I bet there were close to 300 by the time I arrived. They pulled me out of the line right away and told me that I would have a spot in the front row. That was both a blessing and a curse.

When I got to my seat I was surrounded. On my right were 8 or 10 press photographers. I mean, serious papparazzi types. One was going on about how he didn't see "the limo or the nanny" so I didn't think that Bono had arrived yet. They all had huge bags of gear and basically encircled me with their battery packs. I felt like I was in a makeshift bunker.

I was happy to have a shield from the loonies, though. On my left were two girls who were speechless due to being so close to their hero. One looked at me in and said with her giddiest tone -

"Are you nervous?"
"Nervous?" I asked
"I mean, we're so close!"

I obviously wasn't excited enough to be here.

Bono then came out to a deafening ovation. He was dressed in an unkempt brown sportscoat, clunky boots and a backwards Fidel Castro-type baseball cap. He was also looking mighty smug.

The first series of questions were all about his efforts to relieve African debt. I don't claim to be an expert on African debt. I do, however, have a pretty good understanding of it from a couple of years of debate topics. Bono, it seems, is very sincere in his efforts. He isn't, however, very well versed in the subject. The interviewer would cite a fact or figure and Bono would enthusiastically agree. He didn't really present any of his own ideas. He just nodded along.

The crowd seemed to be lulled to sleep by the subject. When the topic switched to his musical endeavors it was suddenly like being at a circus. Any time Bono would as much as mention a song title it would be greeted with whoops and cheers. When he took off his jacket to reveal a very non-exciting green sweater I thought several gals were going to pass out. Seriously the biggest dose of over the top fandom, the type that makes me completely insane.

Some interesting bits culled from his comments --

* The Edge doesn't really read music or tab. He plays everything from muscle memory. That's why they can't play much from "Boy" these days.

* Bono really seems to believe that they're "the best fucking band on the planet." He said that in one form or another at least three times.

* Bono thinks that God likes rock music much more than gospel because gospel artists "can't tell the truth, man." Rock musicians "tell it like it is" and God doesn't want to be patronized.

* Two groupies stole his lyrics for "October" before they went into the studio to record the album. He claims he pretty much made them up on the spot. I guess that would explain "Gloria."

* He wants to sell the Lemon from the PopMart tour. Let him know if you can use it.

* He just recently got that their name was a bad pun for "you too." He feels better, though, because the Beatles are a bad pun, too.

* If he can be remembered for one song he would like it to be "Kite" from "All That You Can't Leave Behind." The crowd went apeshit when he said that. One girl was literally crying.

* He thinks The Edge is the greatest guitarist of his generation.

* Their new album sounds to him "like a buzzsaw."

They then opened the floor to questions. The questions, however, were pretty much non-existant. Instead they were idol worshipping statements. One girl got to dance with him, one guy bummed a smoke, several could barely speak. It was entertaining, at least.

I had a very fun chat with one of the girls who was working the event while I was waiting for the elevator. Nice to find another slice of sanity amongst the madness. I'm glad I went, I just think I was out of my league.

elevation

Bono pics are here. Full review tomorrow. I'm still mulling it over. I'll piss off every U2 fan (including myself...) but that's par for the course, ain't it?

i did this

A bunch of random and unexplained photos from a Saturday afternoon in Midtown.

[Oops. Try again. As Allan correctly diagnosed, I hadn't set permissions. Sorry!]

diplomatically retarded

So W. is now going sun himself on the Azores with his two lonely supporters. Our boy Ari called it a "last ditch effort at diplomacy."

I hope I'm missing something here. How exactly is that diplomacy? Diplomacy would entail trying to persuade other nations to join the cause. Diplomacy would involve discussions with Iraq. This "summit" seems to me to consist of a few warmongering pals slapping each other on the back. Disgusting.

vive la france

Alex is not only a cool cat with excellent taste in music, he's also a great writer and a producer of brillant shirts. Go buy one, would ya?

hold on, crockett

When the lovely Cassie told me last night that Don Johnson had been caught taking eight billion dollars into Switzerland I thought she was crazy. Eight billion? Surely it must have been eight million.

Nope. Johnson was apparently trying to take eight billion dollars in bonds from Germany to Switzerland. He's going apeshit trying to deny it but it seems that it has to be mostly true.

I'm sure Tubbs was involved. I never trusted him.

i heart the dixie chicks

I make a lot of fun of the Dixie Chicks. The lead singer is shrinking while her hair is getting taller. They're pop country even though they try to claim that they're trad. However, when I read this I suddenly had a new-found respect...

The trio performed a live show in London on Monday (March 10th) night, and Natalie Maines told the crowd, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."

I might just buy their latest album, then. I won't listen to it, mind you, but I'll buy it.

i'm the man on the mountain

Recipe to turn a I Don't Want To Go to Work Friday into an It's Almost the Weekend Friday -

1 - Insert "Exile on Main Street."
2 - Skip to "Loving Cup." (right-click save as)
3 - Turn up volume really loud.
4 - Turn it up louder.

An aside...

I wasn't going to say anything but, damn it, it pissed me off. Just because you kids have figured out that my HTML skills ain't for shit don't go screwing up randomness. I have to clean up after you and, damn it, that's just rude. I still loves ya, though...

sweet thoughts

A caller tonight said that I've been too negative on randomness lately. Perhaps she's right. I do bitch about a lot here. I'll try to break that habit. In my first gesture towards making this a happier, friendlier randomness I present this puppy...

Nah. I'm gonna stick to bitching...

seriously geekin'

So, uh, have I mentioned that Elvis Costello is running the Late Show tonight? I'll sleep when I'm dead.

play ball!

Those of you who don't "know" me probably don't realize that I'm an obsessive baseball fan. No. Really. Obsessive. When April draws near I start to get, well, giddy.

Unfortunately I'm a diehard fan of the hapless Detroit Tigers. They're destined to lose about 110 games (out of 162) this year but that doesn't stop me from dissecting their performance on a daily basis. I've been unable to watch much American League baseball for many years now. However, that just changed. Cablevision, my cable provider, has caved and will carry Yankee games. This is seriously the most excited I've been in weeks. It comes during a week when I'm up to my ears in stats in preparation for our rotisserie baseball draft on Monday. Next year at this time I hope to get back to Lakeland, Florida, for the Tiger's spring training.

Wow. Mike Wolf. Baseball geek.

i refuse to believe

Creative Loafing (Atlanta's free newspaper) reports...

The Brake Pad - Sister location to the popular Oakhurst Universal Joint, the restaurant bar is the hangout for the growingly hip crowd in College Park. The bar food choices are augmented by interesting daily specials.

Hip crowd? College Park. Yeah. Right. Any Atlantans care to confirm this trend?

help the calendar challenged

I try to keep a calendar in my Handspring. I don't do a very good job. I'm pretty good about keeping track of my work appointments but forget to put social engagements in all the time.

Well, it finally bit me squarely in the ass. Two of my favorite artists are playing on April 10 and, well, I bought a ticket for both. So I'll be going to see my pally Vic Chesnutt and passing on the Jayhawks. Sigh...

However, if any of my Gotham readers are interested in a ticket to see the Jayhawks at the Warsaw in Brooklyn you can have my ticket for face value. Ideally I'd love to trade if for a ticket to the 4/12 Jayhawks show at Maxwell's. I have an listing for such a swap up at Craigslist but I doubt there will be any takers. Think about it. Who'd want to trek to the shitty Warsaw on a Thursday night rather than go Maxwell's? Sigh.

So who wants it?

manhattan meets the whipping post

We in NYC like to think that we're a bunch of musical hipsters. We embrace all the kewl bands and look down our noses at the rest of the mainstream. How then to explain the Allman Brothers' upcoming thirteen night stand at the Beacon? Really. I'm not kidding.

disturbing silence

Remember when I mentioned that I couldn't find a particular Johnny Cash CD? The case was on my shelf but the CD was mysteriously missing? Well, I've now determined that I have somehow lost an entire little CD carrier. The missing include -

Johnny Cash - American Recordings Vol I
The Clash - London Calling (Remastered)
The Clash - The Clash (Remastered - UK Version)
Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth (I have three copies. I'm okay...)
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Uncle Tupelo - Anthology
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (Remastered)

Where the hell is it? Maybe I should be puttin' some faces on a milk carton.

cringing already

From Amazon's review of the soon-to-be-released new Lucinda Williams album...

Though her attempts at rap on "Sweet Side" and "American Dream" might cause diehard fans to wince...

dead man talking

I believe that there is no finer television on right now than Six Feet Under. The acting is top-notch, the plot always interesting and the character development is believable and complex. Well, there's also my secret and inexplicable crush on Lili Taylor, but that's a topic for another time.

However, am I the only completely annoyed by the dead guy talking routine? I hated it when the elder Fisher re-appeared from the dead in the first season and I hate it even more when the "clients" come to life in the subsequent seasons. It just seems so, I don't know, unnecessary and dumb. I always roll my eyes. We get it already.

So what are we to make of the fact that Rachel Griffiths still appears in the credits and Lili is listed as a "guest star?" Hmm...

dulcet tones

Watch me jump on that audio blog bandwagon. Damn thing cut me off before I was done, though. That's me. Always long-winded...

audblog audio post

an uncomfortable confession

I have a music hipster reputation to uphold. I may be losing some points with the Williamsburg kiddies with this one but I love, love, love the newish solo record from the Black Crowes' former lead man Chris Robinson. "New Earth Mud" has Robinson rediscovering his soul/country roots and losing some of the overbearing southern rock that marred some of the later Crowes records.

So, uh, check it out. I won't tell.

Oh, and I also still love "Shake Your Money Maker." I'm hopeless.

wrong line of work

The Guardian (UK) reports...

Gandolfini gets $400,000 an episode, a figure comparable to the likes of Frasier co-stars Jane Leeves and Peri Gilpin, as well as West Wing star Martin Sheen, who gets around $425,000 an episode.

But those salaries are well below the $800,000 picked up by Ray Romano for Everybody Loves Raymond, the $1m an episode paid to the Friends cast or the $1.6m that Kelsey Grammer gets for his starring role in Frasier.

Ignoring the fact that Tony Soprano makes more for one episode than I make in five years, what's going on with Romano and Grammer. I've said it before, but I don't think "Everybody Loves Raymond" is even remotely funny. It's like a bad rehash of any of a dozen sitcoms. "Frasier?" "FRASIER?!" I didn't even realize that show was still on and Kelsey Grammer makes over three mill for a couple of episodes.

That, my friends (pun intended), is truly disgusting.

bono's on a bender

Due to unforeseen circumstances the upcoming TimesTalks event "Bono: A Conversation" has been rescheduled for one week later on Sunday, March 16 at 4:00 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Damn! I can still make it next weekend, though. I think he's going on a bender to celebrate Patricia's birthday!

i spy with my little eye

I got my new camera yesterday. I love it. I was messing about here and thinking about the pictures that the lovely Patricia put up of her work area a couple of weeks ago.

Well, here's my messy area. Wow. It's not normally that bad.

So check it out (click on it for the full image) and see how much of the crap on my desk you can identify. I didn't place anything there to be a prop. That's just how scary it was this morning.

pick your poison

I'm a coffee drinker. It's the one vice that I don't even concern myself with. I need it, I love it. I can live with that.

I am, however, also not a morning person per se. I rarely possess the motivation (or coordination, for that matter) to make coffee in the morning during the week. However, I have to have my morning cup.

That leaves me two options. I can have the coffee that gets made here at work. Only one problem with that - it's half-caff. Yeah. Pointless. My other option is to drive through any of the three Dunkin' Donuts on my way.

Now one can't simply drive through DD without getting a little something to nosh on, right? As I've mentioned before, I usually opt for the "Reduced" Fat Blueberry Muffin. Reduced fat, to our lard encased DD friends, means 13 grams of fat. Now, when compared to the Raspberry White Chocolate Scone there that I simply adore it's not so bad. The scone, you see, has 22 grams of fat! Yikes! But all of this merits a closer look --

The scone has seven grams of saturated fat (the really bad kind) compared to eight for the muffin. What's really baffling is the sugar content. In case you haven't heard the latest find, too much sugar makes you soft in the head but they apparently have have to put a ton of sugar in the muffin to make edible. The muffin's sugar content? Thirty-nine grams!! The scone checks in with 27.

So, it seems that I really shouldn't eat anything at the ol' Dunkin Donuts. I shouldn't drink coffee, either. Let the boy have one addiction, would ya?

so, paul...

I'm going to see Bono speak on Sunday. He's being interviewed by John Pareles for the New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend. Bono and John Pareles. Can you imagine the ego in that room?!

At any rate, they're opening the floor to questions. What should I ask ol' Mr. Hewson?

fame, ain't it a bitch

Below Patricia and Kirsten call me out for insulting Madonna's literary abilities. I think they're right. I have no evidence that Ms. Ciccone is not a brilliant writer of prose. Hell, she was admitted to the University of Michigan for her undergraduate degree (albeit in dance and one she didn't finish) which is more than I can say for my 17 year-old brain.

However, I just get really annoyed with public figures who decide that their fame should allow them to enter into whatever market they want. I like a lot of Madonna's music. I saw her in concert when I was 15 years-old fer crying out loud. I don't, however, like any of Madonna's films. Okay, even that's not true. I love "Desperately Seeking Susan" but for an unusual reason. I saw that movie in the theatre with my friend Mark Mortenson. Mark later took his own life. That movie is the only momento of our friendship that I was able to keep. But I digress...

I'm all for being able to do what makes you happy. However, just because you're successful in one field shouldn't mean you get an immediate pass into another field just because of your name. Madonna can sing. Madonna can dance. Madonna can't act but she'll continue to get roles because she's Madonna. I'm shocked and dismayed to discover, in fact, that she's in the upcoming Peter Greenaway film. One of my favorite directors and Madonna. Great.

If Madonna was really serious about writing children's books then she should have written one and shopped it around to the various publishing houses. Instead she's being given carte blache for five books with the Madonna name attached.

strike a pose, there's nothing to it

So Madonna's signed a deal to write five children's books.

Where to even begin? First of all, do you think she'll really write them? I mean, they're paying for her name. She'll employ a ghost writer, won't she? It seems to me that she'll have to. She's certainly not known for being brilliant with the language, is she? I'm sure, though, that these students are still digesting her wisdom.

So this will just bring her some more loot while keeping five "legitimate" children's books from coming to press.

It's an easy shot, but perhaps she can just adapt her only other literary work for kids?

so don't hold back elvis

Rolling Stone - For last year's ceremony, the Talking Heads put aside their differences and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers welcomed back their original drummer Stan Lynch to play last year's (Rock & Roll HOF) ceremony. Will Bruce Thomas rejoin the Attractions for a night?

Elvis Costello - I only work with professional musicians. As far as I know he isn't a professional musician, so I don't imagine so.

random sightings

So which sighting over the weekend was more random and impressive in this amazing city?

Running into the esteemed Ken Goldstein of The Illuminated Donkey outside Bleecker Street Records only to be taunted by threats of held-open doors?

Or perhaps seeing apparent Hello Kitty devotee Lisa Loeb at the Zappa event at Carnegie Hall?

Top 100 blogger? Or disturbingly cute folk rocker?

Sorry, Ken...

needless to say

* I had a great weekend.

* I enjoyed the Zappa thing at Carnegie much more than I anticipated.

* I'm really tired.

* And water-logged.

* If you see a homeless guy or French tourist with my Fuji digital camera beat them about the head and get it back. Sigh. I'd at least like the memory card back. The camera's replaceable. The pictures aren't.

More details tomorrow. Zzzzzz...