Blog: Kofi's hat

They say awards chosen by fans mean the most. Then again, this shadowy "they" is always saying something . "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." "Never go to bed angry." "'I don't want to see a ghost/It's the sight that I fear most' is a bad lyric." Know-it-alls. How many hit records do they have? Perhaps these sorts of bitter thoughts might comfort Des'ree, who today won a trophy for writing the worst song lyrics of all time for her 1998 tune "Life". It was a hit, so [...]

The forthcoming Cake compilation, B-sides and rarities , includes their George Jones cover, "Subtract One Love (Multiply the Heartaches)". There's something natural, almost poetic, about the combination of heartbreak, country music, and math. (And the wit adds a nice touch.) Many of the songs Cake covers blend the melancholy and the humorous, and the same is true of many of their own lyrics, which are written by frontman John McCrea. I spoke with McCrea by phone Wednesday, and asked why he thinks this mixture is so potent. "Isn't that what life is actually [...]

Acid House Kings - Sunday Morning (on Mondays Are Like Tuesdays And Tuesdays Like Wednesdays ) Sonic Youth - Sunday (on A Thousand Leaves ) David Hasselhoff - La Isla Bonita (on David Hasselhoff Sings America ) Quinn - Slowmotion Smile (on Luss ) The Waifs - London Still (on Up All Night )

The Thrills - Saturday Night (on Let's Bottle Bohemia ) This has little-to-do nothing to do with lightbulbs As you can see in the image above, there plainly is a floor in the commercial plugging Queens of the Stone Age's digital-download-only single "Sick Sick Sick": . The clip features two cartoon lightbulbs -- the star is "Bulby", who is broken, sassy, unkind, and smokes. A peglegged pirate lightbulb wearing an eyepatch makes [...]

Chef Heston Blumenthal is also a cookbook author, BBC2 television presenter and hosts a Discovery Science show called Kitchen Chemistry , highlighting his affection for molecular gastronomy. He apparently has a reputation for offbeat dishes, many of them using his scientific skills ("apparently" because I'd never heard of him, but then I live in California and have never supped in Berkshire.) It's in Berkshire that Blumenthal is presenting diners with iPod shuffles along with one dish on his tasting menu . Pim describes the food she was [...]

A trio of Friday songs... The Tages - Friday On My Mind (on In My Dreams ) Bouncy 1960s Swedish pop-rock Allister - Friday Night (on Dead Ends and Girlfriends ) Catchy punk-pop. The Professionals - Friday Night Square (on I Didn't See It Coming ) Stellar punk rock with top-notch guitars and bass.

Thursday Songs: Cranes - Thursday (on Wings of Joy ) - A cross between a wispy cloud and a bit of lemon sherbet as it melts on your tongue. Piziccato Five - Thursday (on The Sound of Music by Pizzicato Five ) Breezy Japanese pop unless the lyrics are sinister, in which case it's superficially breezy, sinister, and sneaky. Melody Maker : Whether it's remembering "the [...]

Some feel that Wednesday is the most difficult day of the week. Others say that's a self-fulfilling prophesy: if you don't expect drama, there won't be any. As a general rule, it's not a bad idea to raise a single eyebrow at those who understate a case so sweepingly. You can go ahead and use the same eyebrow you raise at those who sweepingly overstate cases if you like. I can't raise one eyebrow at a time, so this doesn't apply to me. The Undertones - Wednesday Week (on The Undertones ) [...]

Today is the second blogiversary of Kofi's hat. The blog's namesake, Kofi Hales, was 11 months old when his dad, Matt Hales (of Aqualung ) suggested the name for this blog ("Uppercase K, and lowercase h") and wrote it out for me. Kofi's nearly 3 now; he probably has all kinds of things down. Now, 2, that's pretty young. I might still be expected to hold up a couple fingers and say "this many" when asked how long I've had the blog. Heck, I might idly hold up an index finger from each hand, then wander away [...]

Morrissey singing "I Just Want to See the Boy Happy" on Friday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live :

The Nehru-jacket-wearing man beaming broadly from the cover of Ultra-Lounge: On the Rocks, Pt. 1 instantly reminded me of another far-out cat, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs of the Church of the SubGenius . They're not from the same eras, or is that "50s look" the new black, and always in? The album is ten years old, so by now the look could be out again. Or it could have been out and then made a triumphant return, lovingly embraced by the public, Nehru jacket and all. Can't say I dig the jacket but I do dig [...]

It recently occurred to me that a lot of videos are set in supermarkets... and I started to make a list. Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know (1983): In the video for Ullman's Kirsty MacColl cover, a supermarket is used to help depict the unglamorous reality of settling down and having kids when you're not well-off. Ullman's hair is a mess, her face appears free of make-up, and she's wearing slippers. Before the [...]

The Theremin is handy in that one doesn't touch it while playing it. That doesn't make it the instrument for everyone who's abandoned the triangle in frustration, tired of practicing for hours everyday and not getting any better. This weekend, I learned that the hard way. Alright, I haven't really taken up the Theremin. But watching a 2004 Screen Savers segment in which Robert Moog demonstrated the instrument and introduced a cool performance by Thereminist Robby Virus of Theremin lounge band Project: Pimento (pictured above), I could almost [...]

Ah, spring fever , that certain "feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by the coming of spring." Here's a mix dedicated to it. I'll name it later. Too restless, excited, and lazy to do so now. Spring Fever Mix, To Be Named Later : The Black Watch - Hey Hey Hey (on The King Of Good Intentions ) Chris Mills - Escape From New York ( The Wall To Wall Sessions ) [...]

For one shining month ( September 2005 ), the Poptones record label blog featured two amusing songs from the stars of the 1960s Batman series. The songs are still there, both the decidedly odd song stylings of Burt Ward , who played Robin, and a melodramatic musical gem from Adam West , who played his caped partner in crime-solving. West begins his song with a question: "Will tonight be the night... that Bruce reveals himself to... the magnificent Miranda?" He means taking his mask off, kids. It's a big moment in any [...]

In a new video clip, Aqualung 's Matt Hales graciously teaches the proper way to make a good cup of tea . If you've ever given him a cup of tea with cream, here at last is your confirmation that you did terribly offend him. This video beverage-related lesson is brought to you by Spinner and the letter T. The new Aqualung album, Memory Man is out now in the States, Canada, and the U.K. and should soon be available [...]

Aw, how neat! The folks at Google are fans of the keen, prematurely-canceled sitcom Undeclared . Sure, they're demonstrating their fondness with a stolen joke , but thievery is allegedly flattering, or something like that. The original, non-holiday-based clip : Google does add bits about advertising and archiving emails to their gag (and I'm almost positive they're kidding), but I think [...]

There's no U.S. release date yet for Hafdis Huld 's alt-pop Dirty Paper Cup (first released in October 2006), but these things take time. In some European countries, the former Gus Gus singer has already released her fourth single from the album ("Diamonds On My Belly"). This Wednesday, March 28th, Huld plays London's ME Club , with Eg White, (doors are at 7:30). April 20th, she's part of the Camden Crawl line-up, again in London. On April 24th she plays Le Mandala in Toulouse, France, with Tara King [...]