December 20, 2007

The Slackers - Henderson Swamp
Urban Blight - Escape From Reality
The Siren 6! - This Can't Be What You Meant
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Alkaline Trio - Goodbye Forever
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Deep Dark Basement
Dillinger Four - #51 Dick Butkus
Four Tomorrow - Better Walk A Little Faster
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Sebadoh - Rebound
Push To Talk - Talk Is Cheap
Touch Committee - Gold Coast
Going Steady - Kakenukete Seishun
Superchunk - On The Mouth
The Queers - She's A Cretin
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J-Church - Cool Guitar Girl
Superdrag - Feeling Like I Do
Seaweed - Losing Skin
Naked Raygun - Home of the Brave
Toys That Kill - All I Care About Is Me, My Rum, and You
Operation Ivy - Gonna Find You
Bigrig - Expansive Heart
Les Savy Fav - Rodeo
The Spandecks - Paranoia
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Calling All Monsters - Lake Wave/So Many
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
Blotto - The Guitar Has Been Drinking (Not Me)
Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
Mr. T Experience - You're The Only One
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
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Pizzicato Five - A New Song
April March & The Makers - Try to Cry
The Thermals - Our Trip
The Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
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Cap'n Jazz - Little League
The Pixies - Broken Face
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Hate & Kill

I'm A Homer

Recently I discovered the wonderful record that is Just A Fire's "Light Up". How did I miss this gem over the last few years?!?! I tried to describe it to someone, and ended up saying that it was like a dubby mix of The Clash and Jawbox. As awful as that may sound, it doesn't! Hooray for awkward sentence structure. This is yet another non-ska record that has been overlooked by the world thanks to being a part of the Asian Man Records roster.

Speaking of, I saw the Andrew Jackson Jihad record in the ska section of Streetlight Records yesterday. Great work there guys! Andrew Jackson Jihad are on tour now, tonight in Santa Cruz, and tomorrow in San Jose, a show that I'm organizing. GO! I'm sure if you read this blog, you probably already know about this show anyway, but if you don't, here:


In summation, most of my favorite records from 2007 were Asian Man releases, Bomb The Music Industry's "Get Warmer" and AJJ's "People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World" actually having been released year, and Just A Fire's "Light Up", which I finally discovered this year. Woohoo!

December 13, 2007

Skankin Pickle - Rotten Banana Legs
Mu330 - Ireland
Los Rudiments - Too Late
Potshot - Since Yesterday
Rancid - Daly City Train
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Good Night - Brights
Your Song Is Good - Shortcake pt. 4
Rx Bandits - Apparition
The Advantage - Ducktails
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The Minutemen - The Glory of Man
Eastern Youth - Bura Bura Bushi
Ted Leo - Little Girl in Bloom
Les Savy Fav - Kiss Kiss Is Getting Old
Billy Bragg - The Saturday Boy
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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Let Us Get Murdered
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Love My Children
The Weakerthans - Sun in an Empty Room
Nate Kavanaugh & The Replacematts - This Whole World
The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
Lemuria - Rough Draft
Jawbreaker - Jinx Removing
Mega City Four - Twenty One Again
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Going Steady - Wakamonotachi
Fugazi - Bed for the Scraping
Pteradon - Broadway
Fatal Flying Guilloteens - Hello, Boss!!!
Bear Claw - Stubborn Agenda
Just A Fire - Graduation
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Guided by Voices - A Contest Featuring Human Beings
The Cherry Tempo - City of Squares
Judy and Mary - Over Drive

The type of sound that these young'uns don't know!

December 6, 2007

Sugarhill Downtown Orchestra - Home Made Song
Slow Gherkin - Shed Some Skin
Fishbone - Ugly
The Specials - Gangsters
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Supergrass - Caught by the Fuzz
The Buzzcocks - Harmony in my Head
Stout City Rockers - Common Man
Toys That Kill - Bill Buckner
The Misfits - Some Kinda Hate
The Libertines - Last Post on the Bugle
The Unicorns - Les Os
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The Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker
Green Day - 2000 Light Years Away
Busy Signals - Look the Other Way
Japanther - Challenge
The Thermals - Out of the Old and Thin
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
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Les Savy Fav - What Would Wolves Do?
Hot Hot Heat - Bandages
The Minutemen - Anchor
We Versus the Shark - We Versus the Inevitability of Death
Sparta Locals - Hotaru
Enon - Pleasure and Privilege
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Touch Committee - Blue Glass
Just A Fire - The Source of the Sound
Boilermaker - Hill
Pteradon - Urban Pirate Style
Jawbox - His Only Trade
Andrew WK - It's Time to Party
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The Lawrence Arms - 100 Resolutions
Leatherface - Dead Industrial Atmosphere
Bear Claw - Short but Sweet
The Honor System - Muffled by Concrete
Drive Like Jehu - Golden Brown
Eastern Youth - Freedom
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Sakerock - 2A3l (this title might show up as garbled japanese until I fix it)
My Korean Friends - A Story Like the Wind
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Come Baby Come

Schwachan

I had the pleasure of seeing "Pumping Iron" last night, the bodybuilding movie featuring Arnold Schwarznegger and Lou Ferrigno among others. The direction and soundtrack were executed perfectly to emphasize how meaningless bodybuilding is. The movie also shows pretty clearly how disgusting of a person Arnold Schwarznegger really is.

For further proof, watch this amazing Youtube clip:

Bookhunter

I just finished reading Bookhunter by Jason Shiga, and it was ridiculously and enjoyably over the top. Without giving too much away, it's like a pulp action story about a detective and his team who are investigating the theft of a rare antique Bible. The artwork is deceptively simple, but actually does a great job of accentuating the moods of the characters and of the action sequences. There's a lot of technical jargon relating to book binding and the running of a library, which is so over the top considering the subject matter of this "gritty" crime story, that one can't help but find it absurdly entertaining.

If you want a taste of some Jason Shiga before checking out this book, check out his comic FLEEP.

Thanks to Biguglyadam for introducing me to Jason Shiga all those years ago.

November 22, 2007

Special Thanksgiving show with guest host Mike Park!

The Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away
The Muffs - Oh Nina
The Mr. T Experience - My Stupid Life
J Church - The Heroic Trio
The HOLiDAYS - Your World
Digger - Feeling What I'm Thinking
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Japanther - $100 Cover
Toys That Kill - Control the Sun
Hot Snakes - Ben Gurion
The Fucking Ocean - Song for Anthony Soltero
The Thermals - Power Doesn't Run on Nothing
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The Hot Toddies - Sugar Daddy
Lemuria - Piranha
Dillinger Four - ¡¡Noble Stabbings!!
Crimpshrine - Summertime
Jawbreaker - Indictment
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The Clash - Guns on the Roof
Bomb The Music Industry! - I Don't Love You Anymore
Chris Murray - The Higher the Monkey Climb
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Ted Leo - The Unwanted Things
Television - See No Evil
Mike Watt - Against The 70's
The Skatalites - Golden Love
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Billy Bragg - A New England
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
Shonen Knife - Water Wine
Michelle Shocked - Anchorage
Andrew Jackson Jihad - People
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J Church - My Favorite Place
Operation Ivy - Here We Go Again
Elvis Costello - Big Boys
Harold Ray Live In Concert - Ain't Nothing But A House Party
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The Specials - Monkey Man
Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
Queers - Houston, We Have A Problem
Husker Du - Never Talking To You Again

NIIICE NIIICE NI NIIIIICENINCIENIONIIIIIIIICE

Holy moly.

I've been listening to lots of KNBR lately. Those of you who know me may or may not know that I love me some sports talk radio. I'm not super into sports, perhaps with the exception of baseball, but the local sports talk talent it unbelievable. Ralph Barbieri and Tom Tolbert are a great duo, nonstop laughs, really smart, and just all around lovable people. Bob Fitzgerald and Rod Brooks are likable enough, occasionally funny, and almost entertaining enough when not. At least they're more interesting than news-talk and top-40 radio.

The real king, though, is Gary Radnich. His show isn't so much sports talk, but rather a sports-related front for a middle-aged white guy to talk about hip-hop, getting down with the ladies, and all sorts of useless pop-culture trivia. When Gary is on a roll, it's especially great hearing him, first, groan when a caller wants to talk about trivial sports matter, and, second, immediately cut the caller off to resume talking about whatever random "good knowledge" he's dropping on the audience that day. Gary also surrounds himself with hilarious talent: Ray Woodson is his straight man, an equally knowledgeable pop culture aficionado; Tony Bruno, the most famous sports talk host nationwide, is Gary's only competition when it comes to obnoxious old white men with a knowledge of hip-hop; Dan Dibley, young goofy announcer whose son provides so many child-versions of Gary's rotation of catchphrases, including: "Good knowledge"; "You gots to get down"; "GOODBYE"; etc; (I don't really know how to use colons and semicolons); The various interns and producers, Mike, Thin Tim, and others also provide for good laughs as Gary's motley sidekicks.

Today, Gary and Tony were talking about Amy Winehouse. Tony was talking about her first date on tour which totally flopped and how she was booed savagely. Gary's first comment on her was that "I can't even look at her!" which I totally agreed with, because she looks totally disgusting. They also dissed her singing and songs, which I also agreed with. She certainly ain't no Sean Kingston!!!

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I recently saw a few good movies, here's a quick roundup:

Troll 2: Horrible. VERY funny.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance: Very funny, great use of dark comedy, until the end when it's totally dark without any comedy at all. Probably the most depressing of all of Park Chan Wook's revenge trilogy. This killed the mood for everyone on halloween, hooray for me suggesting we watch it! Bae Du-Na is hella cute in this.

The Host: Another great dark comedy from Korea. I think that the commentary and it's execution in the film was great. Bae Du-Na is not as cute in this, but still tight.

Milo & Otis: Cutest movie of all time? Probably. Bae Du-Na may be cute, but she has nothing to do with this ultra cute movie.

Going to see the new Joe Strummer documentary that comes out here tomorrow (not so new in other parts of the world, I know).

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On a side note, have you guys out there ever wanted to go up to a girl and totally platonically tell her how beautiful she may be? I wanna do this all time, but I don't wanna seem like a creep! Why are there so many pretty girls out there?

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AHHHH! I know there's more I wanted to write about, but it's 2:30 AM practically and my brain is fried.

November 15, 2007

Calling All Monsters - We Are: Special Forces
Toys That Kill - Blanket
Hundreds and Thousands - Ned Kelly
The New Trust - Wake Up, It's the Nineties
The Fucking Ocean - Literacy Test
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
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Bomb The Music Industry! - Jobs Schmobs
Operation Ivy - Bombshell
Dillinger Four - file under "ADULT URBAN CONTEMPORARY"
Japanther - River Phoenix
Mega City Four - Things I Never Said
Cobra Skulls - The Cobra and the Man-Whore
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Les Savy Fav - The Equestrian
Bear Claw - Short but Sweet
Dinosaur Jr. - Kracked
Fugazi - Ex Spectator
Rx Bandits - To Our Unborn Daughters
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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Bad Bad Things
Common Rider - Classics of Love
Deerhoof - Run Over Speed Light
The Unicorns - Innoculate Innocuous
The Blue Hearts - Chernobyl
Husker Du - Private Plane
Bracket - Warren's Song Pt. 9
The Hot Toddies - Sugar Daddy
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Dethklok - Bloodrocuted
Hepcat - Nigel
The Toasters - I'm Running Right Through The World
Fishbone - Party At Ground Zero
Skankin Pickle - Fights
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The Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place
Ted Leo - Come Baby Come
Superdrag - Sucked Out
Weakerthans - Civil Twilight
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Slow Gherkin - Salsipuedes
Twinkle - Teen Anguish



Background Music:
Mono - Finlandia
Madlib - Indian Hump

November 8, 2007

Short Round - The Alcohol Talking
Bomb The Music Industry! - Bike Test 1 2 3
The Vandals - I Know, Huh?
J-Church - Overconfident
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Jawbox - Mirrorful
Going Steady - Kakenukete Seishun
Alkaline Trio - Goodbye Forever
Crimpshrine - Pretty Mess
Japanther - River Phoenix
Toys That Kill - Safe and Warm
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Hundreds and Thousands - The Pros and Cons
Les Savy Fav - Kiss Kiss Is Getting Old
Sparta Locals - Hotaru
Touch Committee - Blue Glass
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Calling All Monsters - Conventions of Wizards\
Turbo Fruits - Know Too Much
The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost
The Hot Toddies - Sugar Daddy
Bomb Bassetts - Total Destruction To Your Mind
Lemuria - Little Silver Children
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Jawbreaker - The Boat Dreams From the Hill
The Weakerthans - Watermark
Track Star - These Horses Carry Blood
Wheat - Courting Ed Templeton
The Cherry Tempo - Treble Is High
Andrew Jackson Jihad - People
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The Specials - A Message To You Rudy
Operation Ivy - Bankshot
Stephen Malkmus - Phantasies
The Promise Ring - Happiness Is All the Rage
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Portastatic - Sour Shores
Guided by Voices - The Best of Jill Hives
Magnetic Fields - No One Will Ever Love You
Archers of Loaf - Floating Friends
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Belle & Sebastian - I'm A Cuckoo
Going Steady - Wakamonotachi

Here's the article I mentioned about Lance Hahn:
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/11.07.07/music-hahn-0745.html

Join, or Die... with a vengeance

In case you don't know, the Join, Or Die collective of musicians from Santa Cruz, CA are pretty much the best thing ever. They've slowed down their activity as of late, but my formative years as a music fan would've been meaningless had Slow Gherkin, The Huxtables, Good Night and others not been a part of it. In fact, I think Slow Gherkin is the most underrated band of all time, even among fans of the ska niche in which they were abandoned by the world at large.

Having said all this, what the heck is up with this: http://jod.no-place.com/
News Flash! You aren't Join, Or Die! The Mae Shi may be the bees knees to greasy-haired, thrift store robbing, Xiu Xiu zealots worldwide, but by 2003 (when their phony JOD was established) the real JOD had already been around and experienced its peak! Heck, Xiu Xiu could've told them that!

Poseurs! The whole lot of 'em!


P.S. I just watched a youtube video of that band Midori, whose singer blurs out her eyes in all their promotional material... WHAT A BUNCH OF F@$*ING GARBAGE!!! Pure marketing b.s.

November 1, 2007

Small Brown Bike - Like a Future With No Friend
Crimpshrine - Wake Up
Hot Snakes - Ben Gurion
Pteradon - Urban Pirate Style
Derangements - In the Car
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Bomb The Music Industry - 493 Ruth
Calling All Monsters - Lake Wave (So Many)
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
Les Savy Fav - Raging in the Plague Age
Brainiac - Martian Dance Invasion
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Drive Like Jehu - Human Interest
Fugazi - Epic Problem
Jawbreaker - Donatello
Rx Bandits - Crushing Destroyer
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Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
Husker Du - The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
DESA - Voltaire's Fable
Bleach03 - Not Peter
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Andrew Jackson Jihad - People
Why? - Women Eye No
Wheat - I Had Angels Watching Over Me
The Advantage - Goonies 2
Bomb The Music Industry! - Get Warmer
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Japanther - Vagabond
Toys That Kill - Bomb Sniffin Dogs
Supergrass - Caught by the Fuzz
The Hot Toddies - Sugar Daddy
Sambomaster - Sono Nukumori ni You ga Aru
Mr. T Experience - I Don't Need You Now
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The Weakerthans - Night Windows
Mega City Four - Twenty One Again
Alkaline Trio - Clavicle
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Cap'n Jazz - Basil's Kite
Slow Gherkin - Tap Dancing
Eastern Youth - Itsudemo koko ni iru


Tonight's Background Music:
Madlib - Indian Deli
Mono - Little Boy (1945-Future)

Look What Came In The Mail

After a few weeks of impatiently waiting, Shiina Ringo's "Mayonaka wa Junketsu" 12" and the two new Mu-Stars mix CDs have arrived!!! I was pleasantly surprised to see that the 12" was actually brand-new, still sealed, even though the site had it listed and priced as used. WOOHOO!!!




Look at what DIDN'T come in the mail:

October 25, 2007

BREAKfAST - Jason Adams
Ging Nang Boyz - Inu Ningen
Spandecks - Paranoia
Track Star - Payback
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Andrew WK - Not Going To Bed
Bomb The Music Industry! - I Don't Love You Anymore
The Aquabats - Chemical Bomb
Andrew Jackson Jihad - People
The Weakerthans - Utilities
Sean Na Na - Help Me Up the Hill
The Hot Toddies - Sugar Daddy
Feist - Somewhere Down The Road
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Weezer - No Other One
Pinback - Subbing for Eden
Wheat - Round in the Corners
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Why? - Dream On Cortelyou
Pavement - Newark Wilder
Sparta Locals - Pogo
Elvis Costello - Little Triggers
The New Pornographers - All The Things That Go To Make Heaven and Earth
The Dismemberment Plan - Girl O'Clock
The Unicorns - I Don't Wanna Die
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
Deerhoof - Dinner For Two
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Eastern Youth - Freedom
Drive Like Jehu - Golden Brown
Discount - Sleeping Motor Boy
Toys That Kill - Runnin' The Front
The Blue Hearts - Chernobyl
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Television - Elevation
Rx Bandits - 1980/One Million Miles an Hour, Fast Asleep
Derangements - Tsunagare Kairo
Cleveland Bound Death Sentence - Rumble Seats and Running Boards
Green Day - Jar
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Dr. Frank - She Turned Out to be Crazy
The Buzzcocks - Lipstick
Lemuria - Little Silver Children
Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz

October 18, 2007

Feist - Somewhere Down the Road
Ted Leo - Ghosts
Sean Na Na - Hairspray
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
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Polysics - Black Out Fall Out
Enon - Disposable Parts
Why? - A Little Titanic
Bumps - Baby Johann
BREAKfAST - Breakfast? Eat Rice
The Minutemen - Viet Nam
No Age - Sun Spots
Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things
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Liars - Plaster Casts of Everything
Afghan Whigs - What Jail is Like
Pavement - Summer Babe
Silkworm - The Operative
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Calling All Monsters - Baby Bear
Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
The Libertines - Time for Heroes
Archers of Loaf - Web in Front
Four Tomorrow - Better Walk A Little Faster
Kind of Like Spitting - Born Beautiful
Eastern Youth - Tokyo Clear Zero Degrees Celsius
Dirty Little Secret - Three Way Sex
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Supergrass - Cheapskate
Chisel - 8 A.M. All Day
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
The New Pornographers - Failsafe
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The Slackers - Wasted Days
The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight
The Cherry Tempo - Wake Up! Gertrude Stein
Hockey Night - Princess Starcrystal
Lemuria - Little Silver Children
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Bomb The Music Industry! - Unlimited Breadsticks, Soup and Salad Days
Sambomaster - Utsukushiki Ningen no Hibi
J-Church - Overconfident
Cap'n Jazz - Take On Me

Tonight's background music:
Howard Hello - Lazy
Mono - Yearning

GONZ

Two good friends call him their favorite skater. MARK GONZALEZ!!!



PS: I wish I had gotten into skating when I was younger! C'est la vie.

Social Distortion SUCKS!!!

San Jo's very own Jason Adams:

I Will Never Be Able To Do This

THAT'S INCREDIBLE

Hoosier Love?

I got the scoop on a special Mu330 show going on tonight in Santa Cruz as part of their singer Dan Potthast's wedding celebrations. The bride and groom's relatives and friends gathered at the P Street house, and Mu330 played all the hits!!!... until the cops came and told them to cut the noise. It was a special night and I'm glad I could be a part of it, now I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.