LINK It’s just too bad, for every “Animal Party” or ill-fated game of “Spin the Bottle” and well-placed anatomical guffaw there’s one too many tunes that just go through the motions, and old ones at that. Still, the tunes on Invisible Girl work, because Khan and Sultan’s love of the music they’re ripping off is obvious and infectious, and because they’ve got a knack for capturing the feel of the records they’re taking cues from most throwbacks can’t quite muster. Sam the Sham would be proud; that is, if he’s cool with dick jokes.
Since when can you praise an album and then call the songs you just praised “tunes that just go through the motions?” The reviewer, Paul Thompson, is terribly confused and was forced to not give the album anything above an 8. He gave it a 7.1. Which means nothing. It’s just a number.
(LINK) At a December 8 benefit show at the Echoplex in L.A., “Weird Al” Yankovic will sing a Pixies song with members of the Pixies. This will obviously be an incredible thing to see.
Yankovic will sing the Doolittle jam “I Bleed”. But maybe if we bug him enough, he’ll subject a Pixies song or two to the “Weird Al” treatment. “Here Comes Your Spam”? “This Monkey’s Gone to 7-11”? This needs to happen.
There may not be a stretch of as amazing shows as the ones I attended in the period September 1 through October 31. That said, November and December look to be pretty awesome months for rockers. The next concert that I am excited for most is Sonic Youth November 22 at the Wilbur Theatre. The perennial alt-rock noise band released a pretty well-received album in 2009 called The Eternal on Matador. They’ll be back the next day for another show. The Feelies, a Velvet Underground influenced group that disbanded in 1992 and reunited in 2008, will be opening. Then just four days later on the 27th, Pixies will be performing their classic album Doolittle in its entirety as part of a big 20th anniversary tour. The two-day show will take place at the Wang Theatre and will feature Memphis garage-pop king Jay Reatard as the opening act for the first night. Three or so weeks later on December 13th the Arctic Monkeys, who made a trip to Commonwealth Avenue back in August for a Paradise show, will be at the larger House of Blues for a second go-around in as many months. Noisy-punks Screaming Females will open.
Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — MasterCard Inc., the world’s second- biggest payments network, fell in New York trading after cost cuts aided a jump in third-quarter profit, prompting one analyst to question the quality of earnings.Shares of MasterCard dropped as much as 5.9 percent, the most since April 20, after the company said it cut advertising and marketing spending by almost 30 percent in the third quarter. Chief Executive Officer Robert Selander said in July expenses would be “significantly higher” in the second half.
“MasterCard did beat the number, but a lot of that was on much lower than expected advertising expenditures,” said Robert Dodd, an analyst with Morgan Keegan Inc.
The second half of the season could be historic for the Houston Texans. They have a chance to make the playoffs for the first time, with their best record ever (5-3) at the midway point of the season.
After a 1-2 start, the Texans have momentum. Matt Schaub is playing superbly at quarterback, teaming with Andre Johnson to become one of the NFL’s most prolific quarterback-receiver combinations.
Lo-fi indie rock Black Lips punk. Now that I have your attention…
Philadelphia Phillies pitchers Brett Myers and Cole Hamels had words after Game 5 of the World Series on Monday, one witness told Yahoo! Sports.
The incident was related to Hamels’ statement after Game 3 that he was looking forward to his frustrating season being over. As Myers walked past Hamels in the locker room Monday he reportedly said sarcastically, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit?”
WorldNetDaily
Less than 24 hours after WND reported a proposal from U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to audit the Federal Reserve was approaching majority support in the U.S. House, he is confirming the plan has reached that “crucial benchmark.”
“The tremendous grass-roots and bipartisan support in Congress for H.R. 1207 is an indicator of how mainstream America is fed up with Fed secrecy,” Paul said shortly after U.S. Rep Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, became the 218th cosponsor, giving the plan, technically, majority support in the 435-member House.
“I look forward to this issue receiving greater public exposure,” Paul said.
New York Times
BOSTON — Winston Chin hustles on Tuesdays from his eight-hour shift as a lab technician to his writing class at Bunker Hill Community College, a requirement for the associate’s degree he is seeking in hopes of a better job.
He is a typical part-time student, with one exception. His class runs from 11:45 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., the consequence of an unprecedented enrollment spike that has Bunker Hill scrambling to accommodate hundreds of newcomers. In the dead of night, he and his classmates dissect Walt Whitman poems and learn the finer points of essay writing, fueled by unlimited coffee, cookies and an instructor who does push-ups beforehand to stay lively.
Similar booms have forced many of the nation’s 1,200 community colleges to add makeshift parking lots, rent extra space and keep thousands of students on waiting lists this fall. While Bunker Hill offers two midnight classes — the other is Psychology 101 — and Clackamas Community College in Oregon holds welding classes until 2 a.m., others have added classes as early as 6 a.m. to make room for the jobless and others whom the recession has nudged back to school.
More students –> More demand –> No room left during “normal hours” = Midnight classes
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 