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Fan Fiction, aside from an ingredients panel, is the most marginal of literary genres. Since the 17th century when Cervantes' Don Quixote was sabotaged by amateur scribblers, Fan Fiction throughout the ages has clung to the underbelly of good writing like barnacles on the Starship Enterprise . Last month I was challenged by Music To Spazz By Jingle Producer Nutley Sam Elwitt to partake in a literary joust of the schlubbiest kind: an Adam-12 Fan Fiction Contest. Adam-12 Fan Fiction really does exist and it's serious business [...]

Originally posted May 15, 2008 "Selling all my records. $40. Call 555-5555 for more information". He could've saved himself the $3 he spent for the newspaper ad and simply emailed me directly. Two hours later, I was in Dick's living room looking at "all" his records: three boxes of albums and a couple of boxes of singles. Turns out Dick sold cars from his front yard for "20-some" years and had some experience stretching the truth. Turns out that "all my records" were the [...]

Let's set the scene: A jet-lagged Damien suggests we wander from the venue to a nearby coffee shop to chat. On arrival the shutters are down and it's barely above freezing as we continue our quest for Americano !!! We switch on the tape machine and chat as we trudge through the snow and slush of a dismal, damp January night in Norwich. Damien : Hi so who do you guys write for? Mark : Well I write for BIYL, an American [...]

Let's set the scene: A jet-lagged Damien suggests we wander from the venue to a nearby coffee shop to chat. On arrival the shutters are down and it's barely above freezing as we continue our quest for Americano !!! We switch on the tape machine and chat as we trudge through the snow and slush of a dismal, damp January night in Norwich. Damien : Hi so who do you guys write for? Mark : Well I write for BIYL, an American [...]

Somewhere in America this week, 20-year old Taylor Swift, in short dress, boots and blonde locks celebrated being Billboard's top selling album of 2009. Friday night, Jill Andrews , in short dress, boots and blonde locks took the stage. Both women wield a guitar and a claim on country. Swift, the high fructose version forced upon us by commercialized production powers-that-be, tastes good and hooks you but slowly numbs your organs. Andrews, a natural organic nectar grown on farm soil and available sparingly, both heals and satisfies. We'll take the latter any day. [...]

By all accounts, 2009 was a year full of death. i'd hoped this year was going to give us a reprieve from losing great people, but this morning i learned of the first death in 2010 of someone i admired. You'd hesitate to call him a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination, but New York street/performance poet Bingo Gazingo 's obscurity likely served as an aid to his singular imagination and oddball creativity. photo taken from The Danger Global Warming Project [...]

As far as my favorite songs go, this seems to be the year for the grand epic. I don't know what it is, but the longer progressive numbers were the ones that seemed to have the biggest impact on me, which you'll notice as you start perusing through the following list. On top of that, if you want to get technical, the entire Decemberists album is basically arranged as one lengthy 55 minute song and should actually be my number one song of the year, but that would just be a little too redundant, what with it already [...]

Beginning December 28 through January 1, we'll be posting Top 10 Albums of 2000-2009 lists once again determined by our esteemed writers. Also, expect things to get back to normal next week with regular news updates and Daily Diversions. But today, we bring you the final Top 10 Albums of 2009 list! LoudLoopPress.com Editor-In-Chief Richard Giraldi leaves a path of destruction with his list for the Top 10 albums of 2009. 10. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked [...]
Well, here we are again at the end of another sensational year for music and pop culture, and here you are, reading a list of the best albums of 2009 for the umpteenth time. (It's the third list on Stark in as many days, because that's how we roll.) I really feel for you. These lists can get grating, and they can also get to be a little redundant, especially when they all pile up in the last few weeks of the year and tend to feature a lot of the same artists. It's no different this year, but for [...]

Last Friday night I attended the third and final Vancouver show of Lady Gaga's Monster Ball . I got tickets about a month ago, which in itself was a small miracle. The Lady can certainly sell out a theater. Anyways, the night was fantastic. We had floor seats, right on the aisle toward the right side of the stage. We were sat by three adorable children. The two youngest were dressed up like they were going to the opera. I'm not sure what exactly they (or their grandparents, who bought them the tickets) were expecting. Let's just [...]
Filed under: The Hit List 25. 'Our Endless Numbered Days,' Iron and Wine (2004) Though one-man-show Sam Beam specializes in finger-picking, hillbilly he is not. On his impeccable, heartbreaking second album he's an acoustic existentialist. 24. 'The Black Parade,' My Chemical Romance (2006) For such [...]

The great man and the megalomaniac share one thing in common, and this would be a deep, abiding sense of destiny. Shoko Asahara, born blind in his left eye and partially sighted in the right, into a large, poor family of tatami mat makers aspired early on to be a leader. He ran for class president in elementary, junior high and senior high school. Though he was continuously rejected by his classmates, he never doubted his sense of destiny. Though he was not loved, he sought to bend others to his will through threats and fear. Nor [...]

Used to be one of the rotten ones and he liked you for that. Used to be one of the rotten ones and he liked you for that. Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that. Now you're all gone got your make-up on and you're not coming back. Can't you come back? Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you [...]
Ok, so not exactly a full on X Factor edition, but two of the highlighted performers did cut their teeth on that "talent" show whether as a judge or performer. Below are some recent highlights from the global world of pop music, and all it's beautful/ugly permutations. Alexandra Burke - Broken Heels (300 kbps) Alexandra Burke (of X-Factor fame) calls upon the oh-so-now talents of a certain GaGa producing RedOne , and his key tapping fingers are in prime form here on [...]

So, I don't know if I've already mentioned this enough already, but I'm going to NEW YORK on Sunday for a week of tomfoolery and Big Apple based fun. We've also chosen this week in particular to head across the sea as it's CMJ Music Marathon and there are some pretty fucking cool bands playing. A fair few that we've featured on this here blog in fact. Hooray for us and coolness! But, my problem is I just can't process this list of bands who are playing. There are too many for my [...]
CMJ released the band schedule for its 2009 Music Marathon & Film Festival yesterday, which is about as good a sign of fall hitting New York as the return of apple cider at Greenmarket. The festival runs from Oct. 20 - Oct. 24 and includes various venues throughout the city, and the list of featured artists would probably take all four days to read through. But skimming the selection reveals a fairly equal distribution of well-known acts like Atlas Sound and Deer Tick , anonymous locals (including krautrock-y Jeff Buckley-channelers Pocketknife), twenty-two bands who [...]
The press release below doesn't actually list all the acts performing at CMJ this year, so you're probably better off checking out cmj.sched.org to get a true idea of what's happening during this year's marathon. Of course, sched.org is a little confusing too and it doesn't list unofficial events and day parties (as far as I know), so you'll have to wait a little bit longer for info to trickle out from the blogs and other unofficial sources. Lastly, even though the press release says the schedule is "final", you can pretty much bet that things will shift [...]

TOP ALBUM RELEASES: SEPTEMBER 2009 NICK'S TOP: Rodrigo y Gabriela: 11:11 The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You The Instruction: [...]
September 21, 2009 #346 Singapore Sling – Sunday Club (Perversity, Desperation, and Death) 2009 The Jesus & Mary Chain – Everything's Alright When You're Down (Barbed Wire Kisses) 1988 Silk Flowers – Flash Of Light (Silk Flowers) 2009 Pixies – Is She Weird (Bossanova) 1990 Palace Of Buddies – I Was Vegan (Palace Of Buddies) 2009 Church – Opposite People (Song Force Crystal) 2009 Tender Loving Empire *Station Break* The Vandals – I'm A Fly (When In Rome, Do As The Vandals) 1984 [...]