The Batman Begins-mobile. Do not flip this guy off in traffic.

New Wilco touring guitarist Nels Cline feels the need to justify to his fans why he’s joining a ‘mainstream’ band. He sounds a little defensive… He also calls A Ghost Is Born a double-CD, but that’s probably an error on his part – it’d be a double-LP if on vinyl, but it fits quite comfortably on a single CD. Unless they’re doing the ‘split it onto two discs anyway’ thing to give it a more ‘old-timey’ feel. Meanwhile, The Riverfront Times has a piece on how Ghost was leaked and spread like ebola, and whether you should feel guilty about partaking in the leak. And if you are, check out JustAFan.org – it’s been set up by Wilco fans to allow folks to donate money to Doctors Without Borders as a gesture of good faith for downloading the leaked album. Apparently the recipient organization was chosen in consultation with the band, but this should not be intepreted as them officially sanctioning the downloading of copywrited material – they are not, this is entirely fan-initiated. Either way, it’s a fine gesture, and may be enough to appease my conscience when I inevitably give in and get my own copy of the leak. I’m amazed I’ve resisted this long. From Via Chicago.

Oh, and that Ghost stream that some internet yokel alleged was going to be available on the band’s website today? No idea what he was talking about. Must’ve been on crack or something… (Translation: nothing on the website yet but we’ll check in periodically to see if that changes).

Matador has a little April Fool’s fun with their news update for today. Very crafty including real items with their fake ones. A little too crafty. What is real, though, are the mp3s for A.C. Newman and Mission Of Burma… Or are they?!?

To everyone who isn’t getting their Neko Case/Sadies fill at the two sold-out shows at Lee’s this weekend or the two shows at the Matador next week, there’ll be yet another show April 28 at the Horseshoe, tickets on sale next week. Damn – they keep playing in cool little venues, I’ll be smashing my former record of number of times seeing a single band in a month. Which is, uh, one. I think.

Carina Round has been added as support on the Snow Patrol North American tour (Toronto show April 22 at Lee’s). Yeah, I don’t know who she is either, but to tell from her video she seems angry about something.

The Canadian Federal court has ruled that music downloading in Canada is legal. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein said, “No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings… They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service.” While not a fatal blow to the CRIA’s (RIAA jr) bid to stop file sharing, it is a setback. The decision comes as further evidence that Canada is indeed the promised land – not because file-sharing is illegal (my personal feelings on the subject aren’t terribly pro-file-sharing), nor because milk and honey flows from our taps and the weather forecast calls for 4 mm of manna this weekend. But where else can a man with a last name like von Finckenstein become a Federal judge? Fantastic.

For those interested in planning way ahead, Three Gut Records’ celebrates four years of being one of the coolest labels on the block with a weekend-long shindig at the ‘Shoe May 28 and 29. So far the festivities will feature Guelph’s Royal City the first night and Brookyln’s Oneida the second, but expect more well-wishers and hangers-ons to be added to tbe bills.

Homestar Runner has a special April Fool’s toon! Stinkoman vs Stickman! When titans clash!

Bluetoothagainstbush.com has a lovely tribute to the short-lived, ill-advised but damned funny Sloganator. The Green Day soundtrack gives it a lovely graduation day sort of feel. From Old Hag.

So Mother Nature thought she’d pull the ol’ “Wet and cold on the first day Frank’s going to ride his bike to work” April Fool’s gag… Well it’ll take a more than a little rain and negative wind chill temperatures to get me to pony up for a couple tokens to get to work! ‘Twas a bracing ride, but felt pretty damn good. Point, me. Fuck you, nature!

Oh, and I got my tax return in the amount of every penny my calculations said I’d get, not even two weeks after I sent them in. That’s service. Blintzes for everyone!

np – Pavement / Slanted & Enchanted – Luxe & Reduxe