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One Day Later . . .

Songs in my head:
"Snowden" by Doves
"Landed" by Ben Folds

Thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday's post. I'll try and keep this blog up-to-date on book-related things, so keep checking back in. Funny thing is, I came up with a good idea for my next book yesterday morning. Luckily, no pile of shingles were dropped on my head to get inspired.

I picked up the Mars Volta's Frances the Mute and Doves' Some Cities yesterday. I give both very high marks after a few spins. Probably the biggest surprise with Frances the Mute is the funky-with-Spanish-lyrics track, "L'Via L'Viaquez." The track is wild and has this great slow-down with all sorts of percussion and piano. Now I haven't listened to the record the whole way through, but I enjoy what I've heard. I think Some Cities is Doves' best overall record. Lost Souls has some bright spots in a rather down feel, The Last Broadcast has amazing anthems, but Some Cities trims the fat away and makes the songs into a solid album. Highly recommended.

Here's another '80s college rock band reuniting: according to MTV, J Mascis, Lou Barlow and (hopefully) Murph will perform as Dinosaur Jr for some shows this summer and fall. Now if Ben Folds Five could get back together . . .

Honestly, if Ben Folds Five didn't get back together, I wouldn't mind. Their three proper LPs (and their amazing performance on Sessions at West 54th on DVD) still hold up for me and I look forward to what their ex-bandmates do next. I downloaded Ben Folds' new single, "Landed," last night and listened to it about six times. It's the kind of track that makes me smile. The wait for Ben's new record Songs for Silverman is a little long: it will be released at the end of April. While the wait is long (yeah right), the remastered version of Whatever and Ever Amen (with "She Don't Use Jelly," "Air" and "Mitchell Lane" as bonus tracks!) will be released on March 22nd, according to the Suburbs. Woo-hoo!!!!!!

Reading DVD File's review of the Incredibles, I think I should just buy the DVD, even though I haven't seen the movie. It's on my Netflix queue but sometimes when the demand is so big for a movie, you have to wait a while to get it. Hmmmm . . . .

This book won't be out for a couple of weeks but I'm really looking forward to reading it. I started reading Russell Simmons' Life and Def last night. A very straight-forward and easy read so far . . .

Now back to making my book an easy and straight-forward read . . .

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