Today’s “You won’t be able to swing a stick without hitting another link to it” link – A Barbie doll recreation of the Paris Hilton sex tape. Does this count as work safe? I really don’t know. From The Modern Age via Stereogum.

Stylus proclaims the death of “alt.country” and celebrates one of its forebears, Gram Parsons and his song, “$1000 Wedding”.

The video for Ryan Adams’ “So Alive” can be downloaded here (post three in the thread). Be patient, it’s 32 MB in mpeg form! I haven’t watched it yet, and after seeing the promo campaign for Rock N Roll (you know, with the hanging rabbits and all), that I’m not sure I want to.

Harvey Pekar of American Splendor fame talks to Billy Bragg.

Download an Elliott Smith live set from Brooklyn on June 6, 2003.

Those last two links from Largehearted Boy.

np – Wilco / The Complete Singles

24 – I hear the pleas of those not fortunate to get 24 at the same time as North America, so behold! Hidden spoilers! Of course, the management accepts no responsibility should someone happen to drag their mouse across the following conspicuous white space, nor if someone happens to read the ensuing comments which, unfortunately, can’t benefit from the spoiler cloaking device. First off, after witnessing what I would imagine to be an accurate portrayal of a drug lord/internation terrorist ‘just out of prison’ party, I’m pretty disappointed. Where’s the hedonism? The debauchery? Sad. Beyond that, a very twisty episode indeed. Twisty like those straws. You know, the twisty kind. They’ve certainly turned things up a notch. They’re probably hoping that the audience’s resultant adrenaline rush will blind us to the fact that it made NO SENSE. Hrmm. One point that Kyle and I discussed this morning was that for a brief instant that it appeared as if Tony was also evil. I thought it would have been awesome if the soul patch instantly grew back as soon as his evilness was exposed. Alas. End spoilers.

Thrown Askew sent me a link to this video with the note, “Best music video ever”. That’s certainly up to you to judge, but it’s probably not work safe and may leave you with a peculiar urge to go out and buy power tools.

The Onion rattles off their least essential albums of 2003. Mostly easy targets, but it’s always fun to laugh at others.

Oh – a request to the teeming masses out there – if anyone has an mp3 of the Breeders’ cover of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer theme song that they’d be willing to ‘share’ with me, I would greatly appreciate it. Really, I would.

Information Leafblower has their very thorough year-end lists up. Mine is still coming. Really, it is.

At the book store last night, the clerk asks the fellow in front of me if he wants a bag for his freshly purchased Huge Black Dicks video (I was buying a copy of Don Quixote, get your mind out of the gutter). The guy says, “Uh, yes”. Now I used to work in a video store back in high school, and we had a fairly sizable adult section. My respect for the patrons of said section always went up a notch when they said they didn’t need a bag. They walked out of there, Edward Penishands or Riding Miss Daisy clutched proudly in hand out into suburban Oakville. They were renting porn, and they didn’t care who knew it! Bravo! Say it loud, I like huge black dicks and I’m proud!

np – Big Star / Third/Sister Lovers

Good fun at rehearsal last night, establishing actual tempos for the first batch of songs to be recorded. We wrote them down and everything. Playing with the drum machine is an interesting experience – I daresay our rhythm is pretty good unassisted and playing with the click didn’t feel unnatural at all. As a bonus, the addition of some wonderfully dated clicks and beeps from the old-school Boss Doctor Rhythm have given us a whole new Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark dimension. I hear the kids love that crazy retro synth pop these days. Things are looking good.

The secret history of Spoon – a Series Of Sneaks-era interview with Britt Daniel.

Not really news, but Wilco have confirmed that they’ve recorded over 30 new songs for their next album, including live regulars “Kicking Television”, “Muzzle Of Bees” and “At Least That’s What You Said”. You can grab some live mp3s of the new songs at Burned By The Sun (Yay, Beulah reference!). They are looking at a Spring 2004 release.

Apparently the charges against Jacko have been deemed “unfounded”. This actually makes me very happy. I’m no fan of the man, but I hate seeing people immediately assume the worst about someone, particularly an easy target like Jackson, and pile on the lynching wagon.

Oh yeah – you may notice that things have gotten reversed here, layout-wise. This is what qualifies as a redesign these days. So very lame.

np – Yo La Tengo / Ride The Tiger

I have just been given a DVD copy of Meet The Feebles, Peter Jackson’s first film. If you haven’t seen it, it’s an amazingly crude, violent, offensive and all-out gross film done with puppets a la The Muppet Show. I’ve seen it once, and am honestly afraid to see it again. But it’s mine now.

Also mine is Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic – I found a used copy this weekend. My computer is barely keeping up, graphically, but its playable – it should be much more so after I get ny new graphics card next year. So far its a little slow-going, but I’ve already had to restart a game on account of missing a whole lot of stuff that had to be done. I am counting on this to be a really effective time-waster this holiday season.

Consonant are a relatively new “supergroup” featuring Clint Conley (Mission Of Burma), Matt Kadane (Bedhead/The New Year/Silkworm), Chris Brokaw (The New Year), Winston Braman (Fuzzy) and Chris Brokaw (Come). With a lineup like that, I can’t imagine how they’d be anything less than brilliant, but if anyone has any first-hand opinions, I’d like to hear them.

I’m not entirely sure what The Global Pop Conspiracy is, but a number of people are talking about it and I actually think I’ve been before. It sounds interesting, either way, and though it’s going down the same night as my company Christmas party (next Friday), it’s also reasonably close to where I’ll be. Some drunken stumbling up to the shin-dig may be in order.

Todays Largehearted-pilfered links:

• Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau fires a couple shots across the bow of today’s indie scene, asking “Why should indie-rock bands go pop when webzines everywhere think they’re so cool?”
• Splendid lists off 24 ways in which record geeks are different from normal people.

np – The Posies / Success

The GTA Bloggers Christmas party went off last night at Accordian Guy’s place, and it went crazy late. I am wiped and a little hungover today, but it was a good time and nice to meet some of the people who previously had just been names on emails in my inbox (from the mailing list, y’understand) or comments in the blog. Thanks to Joey and Rannie for organizing and hosting it.

I may well be the only person left in the world who cares, but Nottingham’s favorite rock machine Six By Seven have regrouped from even more label and personnel problems and are recording their fourth album, Down Here On The Ground. They hope it will be out next Spring. Their revamped website also features a very cool discography section that offers a sort of “director’s commentary” on each and every one of their releases.

I’m going to put a plug for 20 Hz. What is 20Hz? In their own words:

A massive online community of girls and boys chatting together for a better future for independent music, arts and culture in Canada. It’s the buzz on the streets taken to a higher level; it’s word of mouth elevated to a way of life; it’s everything you’ve ever needed to connect with independent, people-powered culture.

Wondering when and where all the underground events go down in your hometown?

Want to make new friends interested in the same independent music as you are?

Need contacts to book a cross-Canada tour for your band?

The recently revamped 20hz.ca website was formed by a union of the popular Secret Arcade network and the 20hz print magazine (first edition, Winter 2004). It features messageboards for every major city in Canada and everywhere in between. Discussions flourish on everything from the best albums of the year to who’s going to be the next big thing, from poster art design to favorite movies, from favorite breakfast cereals to the politics of body hair, from … You get the idea.

So basically, message boards intended to host and grow the Canadian indie scene. Check it out.

np – The Waxwings / Low To The Ground