Blog: Flowering Toilet

My nine-year old son has started a band with three of his fourth grade buddies called The Fanatical Food Fighters. As far as I can tell this mostly means the four of them get together at recess and make jokes and sing. Song titles include "I'm Weird Guy Of The Year," and "Sugar Ruuuuuush!" This is what happens when schools ban dodgeball.

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Exclusive - Don Fleming, Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris - "Goodnight, Irene" www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive [...]

Olympic Records, 580 Wickenden Street, Providence, RI There is another new record store in the Providence Rhode Island area, and I wanted to check in and offer you my report. I knew Olympic Records was going to be my kind of place as soon as I walked in the door. On my right was a wall full of vinyl records, on my left three pinball machines, and The Replacement's Tim was playing on the store's turntable.Vinyl, pinball, The Replacements...I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. If [...]

Olympic Records, 580 Wickenden Street, Providence, RI There is another new record store in the Providence Rhode Island area, and I wanted to check in and offer you my report. I knew Olympic Records was going to be my kind of place as soon as I walked in the door. On my right was a wall full of vinyl records, on my left three pinball machines, and The Replacement's Tim was playing on the store's turntable.Vinyl, pinball, The Replacements...I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. If [...]

WDCV has audio from another of my old radio shows up on their tumblr blog. You'll need to go there directly to hear it. This show aired sometime in March of 1991, which means that the cassette tape I took the audio from will be old enough to buy a drink sometime this month. Here is my playlist from that evening: 0:00 PSA Followed by bitter DJ Rant 0:38 Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - "Green Peppers" 2:05 Tom Zè - "Mã" [...]

WDCV has audio from another of my old radio shows up on their tumblr blog. You'll need to go there directly to hear it. This show aired sometime in March of 1991, which means that the cassette tape I took the audio from will be old enough to buy a drink sometime this month. Here is my playlist from that evening: 0:00 PSA Followed by bitter DJ Rant 0:38 Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - "Green Peppers" 2:05 Tom Zè - "Mã" [...]

This is from today's post at the WDCV tumblr blog, and I noticed the date was exactly 24 years ago today. This show happened during my freshman year at Dickinson, and was booked by my friends David Brower and Michael Lenzi. Four bands for $3. Adjusted for inflation this would work out to about $5.70 today. Still, not a bad deal. At the time Fugazi had yet to release their debut EP. Kingface was another D.C. area post-hardcore band, you can hear them on Dischord's State Of The Union compilation LP. SCRAM was [...]

My old college radio station, WDCV at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, has started a tumblr blog to document the station's history in honor of its 50th anniversary year. Brenda Landis, the station's advisor, has posted some really interesting artifacts there, including audio from a radio show I did back on February 16th of 1989 (almost 23 years ago to the day). Here is my playlist for the evening: 0:00 New Order - "Dream Attack" [From Previous Program] 0:12 DJ Introduction 0:41 The Stump Wizards - "Firemine" [...]

Sharon Van Etten released her third album, Tramp , this week on the Jagjaguwar label. I'm still digging into the album, so this isn't a formal review so much as a heads up that Sharon is an artist I think you should check out. Fans of various dreampop bands like Opal, Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500 and Beach House will no doubt find a lot to like about Sharon's music, as will fans of various "confessional" female singer-songwriters. But I think Sharon's music, though obviously indebted to both these genres, has the ability to speak to [...]

I just wanted to pass the word along that one of the bands I wrote about previously, The Popes , are having a reunion show this weekend. The Popes will be playing their first live show in 20 years this Saturday, February 4 at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC. As I said in my original post on the Popes: Hi, We're The Popes neatly encapsulates everything that was fun, nice and good about late 80s collegiate rock, and if I wanted to explain what [...]

I hadn't realized it until recently but Black Friday has become a kind of mini Record Store Day. You can see the full list of releases on the Record Store Day webpage . The main thing that caught my eye was a limited edition Sharon Jones album, Soul Time! , which purports to represent the funkier side of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (does Sharon Jones have a side that isn't funky?). It's an odds and sods type compilation featuring some previously released singles, b-sides, compilation tracks, as well as studio versions of some previously unreleased [...]

With Thanksgiving Day just around the corner, I think we should all take a moment to be thankful that Paul Weller is alive and kicking and still making relevant music in the year 2011. Paul Weller will release a new solo album, Sonik Kicks , on March 26th, 2012, and his management has kindly made a preview track, " Around The Lake ," available for download. "Around The Lake" has a heavy psychedelic feel to it, [...]

If you missed out on scoring a copy of Omnivore's test pressing version of Big Star's Third on Record Store Day, you have a second chance. Omnivore has 500 copies pressed on clear vinyl available for sale exclusively at their web store . The price is steep (in my opinion) at $60, but that is much less than you would pay for a copy on eBay. I was lucky enough to score a copy in store on Record Store Day, and I don't remember paying that much for the black vinyl version. But I know [...]

After a forty-four year gestation period, Capitol records will release the Beach Boys' SMiLE Sessions tomorrow in a variety of configurations ranging from a two CD set, a two LP set, a box set with five CDs, two LPs and two 7" singles, not to mention a super-deluxe set that includes your own personal SMiLE surfboard signed by the surviving members of the band. How much SMiLE do you need? Since I don't surf, I settled for the two LP set (my local record shop had a few copies out [...]

This one was certainly worth it for more than just the album cover. But what what an album cover it is. Take a moment to appreciate the composition: a modern couple donned in formal attire embrace in a garden framed by large "primitive" idols. But take a closer look at the couple. Are they embracing, or is the woman rebuffing an unwanted advance from her male partner? Perhaps she is trying to control her mate's savage instincts. Or perhaps he simply failed to set the proper mood for their romantic interlude. If only he had played his copy of Les [...]

Maybe some people could pass on picking up a record with a cover like this, but I am not one of those people. This one was worth grabbing for more than just the cover. Tony Mottola was a very sensitive guitar player (he did a number of recording dates with Sinatra, and was a member of his touring band in later years). The orchestrations are brash and over-the-top in typical Enoch Light fashion. If you are not too hung up on the idea of "good taste" this is a very fun album to listen to. [...]

Some time ago I posted news that YepRoc would be reissuing the Soft Boys' 1980 classic album, Underwater Moonlight , on LP. At the time I passed along information in good faith that was provided by YepRoc via email that turned out to be inaccurate, and I feel a responsibility to set the record straight. At the time of my original post in November of 2010, the LP release had been delayed, and YepRoc passed along news from Robyn Hitchcock that explained the delay and described the recut version. After having purchased the LP, it [...]

I recently had the privilege of talking with Barrett Martin, the former drummer for the Screaming Trees who has issued the Trees' Last Words: The Final Recordings on his own Sunyata label . In addition to being available for download at the usual places, Sunyata is currently taking pre-orders for the CD. If you pre-order from Sunyata, you'll get the CD in September, a month before the street date. Barrett was driving into Sacramento while we chatted, and I was impressed by his ability to discourse intelligently about music while doing something else. [...]

I just had a great chat with Barrett Martin about the Screaming Trees new release, Last Words: The Final Recordings and other topics. I'll post the interview here soon. In the meantime, I wanted to pass along word that the CD is now available for pre-order from Barrett's label, Sunyata Records. If you pre-order from Sunyata you'll get the shiny silver disc in your hands a month before street date and be the coolest kid on your block.

Mike Flanagan and Earl Weaver after game one of the 1979 World Series. Orioles great Mike Flanagan was found dead near his home this past Wednesday. The Orioles pitcher, executive and broadcaster was only 59 years old. My heart goes out to his wife and three daughters, and all those who loved him. I'll refrain from further commentary until more of the facts surrounding his death are known, but this is very sad news for all Orioles fans. Really it's shocking news that I'm still working hard to process. In [...]