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Don't need to talk to my doctor . . .

Songs in my head:
"When My Baby's Beside Me" by Big Star
"Down the Street" by Big Star
"The Ballad of El Goodo" by Big Star
"Thirteen" by Big Star

Guess which record I listened to this morning? It wasn't Columbia or the Big Star Story . . .

Either I talked too much this weekend or I ate too many dry fruits and nuts but my voice is dry and scratchy this morning. Vanilla tea and cough drops are on the menu until I can get some OJ.

Jim DeRogatis comes through again with an interview with Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard.

So after watching the Extended Edition of The Return of the King with the cast and director/writers commentary tracks on, I finally watched all 4 hours and 10 minutes sans a commentary track. I had to split it up between Saturday night and Sunday morning (yes, cue your chants of "loser" now) but I thought it was great. The stuff that was removed from the theatrical release was for pacing but for the fans, the more character development, the better.

Mike keeps teasing us with some new Hey Mercedes news.

Here's a record that's been making many appearances in my CD player as of late. Just like Turn on the Bright Lights, the more I listen to it, the more I want to hear it. My rationale is this: if Turn on the Bright Lights is a "night" record (as in, it's perfect at night) then Antics is a "morning" record (as in, it's great for the morning). While I'm thinking about it, my favorite Sunday morning record is The Velvet Underground and Nico (maybe because of the first songs' title or because of it being all over the place).

I still need to get this guy's solo record. When I was in Houston a few weeks ago, brother Matt played me a few tracks and I was quite impressed.

I haven't done this in a while, but I went ahead and ordered both of Gatsby's American Dream's LPs and their EP without hearing every single track. I really dig their stuff and I'm looking forward to their Fearless debut which is due later this year. I don't usually jump headfirst into a band's back catalog after hearing a few MP3s, but I really dig what these guys are doing.

I have not watched a single episode of 24 (cue the chants of "You've never seen 24?") but I wonder: do the characters ever sleep? This is the fourth season, so that makes 96 hours of no sleep, right? I know not every season is continuous but do they sleep when the season is over?

If Wes Anderson's intention was to spread the gospel on how great David Bowie's 1970s work is, it's working for me. I had very limited exposure to Bowie's work (some Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs and Aladdin Sane) but after hearing "Life On Mars?" in the Life Aquatic, the housemate's copy of Best of 1969-1974 has been getting a lot of spins in my CD player.

Comments

Kev said…
Ever try hot tea with honey in it for the scratchy throat? That concoction (which a vocalist friend told me about in college) saved a bunch of shows for me back in the day.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I've never seen a single episode of 24 either.
Eric Grubbs said…
I've never added honey to the mix but that sounds like a good one. I had chicken and brocolli soup and Moo-lenium Crunch for lunch today. I'm feeling better, but I just hope my body doesn't start aching. I feel useless when I'm sick.

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