retrobuzz

what a day so far. this morning was one of the worst in recent memory, where i wasn't even hungoves.

1st things 1st, if you haven't checked it out yet, damore haters will love the post kegzies made yesterday on glamorama. my first full-blown hate-post on the web (to my knowledge). damore loves hate mail or the like, almost as much as damore loves talking/writing in the 3rd person all the time. duhvs.

this is all i've got for you today other than my homer jay simpson rip-off from the 'shinning'.

-mmmmBEST! peabs returns to blogville even w/ mono, the franz ferdinand/cat scratch fevers, & the white stripes std. some say best post ever, but don't ask me yet, cos i can't read it at work anymore. so much nsfw buzz. judge for yourself. god bless the peabs for battling all of those ailments to bring some sunshine into all of our lives today.

-libertines- their future is cast in doubt for the 100th time this week when pete either checked-in or checked-out of a rehab center or something, i can't keep track anymore---that's what nme is for. seriously, who goes onto chat rooms on sites called babyshambles.com? must be ephed up. personally, i think it's an all b.s. story. the world isn't that lucky for them to disband, & the devil hates me!

for those oc fans out there, check out chromewaves today for fresh buzz on adam brody potentially playing jimmy olsen in a new superman project. my sources say he's even voluntarily checked himself to a hollywood rehab center to kick that nasty coke monkey off his back, once & for all. speaking of the oc, i heard some hollywood insider rumors about ben mackenzie when i was in cali last month. after seeing him on the conan obrien show earlier this week, i think it's fairly duhvs. conan asked him why all of the girls in the oc cast always are trying to set him up or introduce him to girls at parties, etc. his response was, something like 'yeah, i don't know how to talk to girls, i don't know what to say to them, blah blah blah'. he went on & on for like a couple minutes about it. a young hollywood star should be getting more girls than a pussbag quarterback on a hit reality courting tv show on abc. bovs.

that is all. i'll try to post a review tomorrow of tonight's sea ray/metric show. if you're going, stop by jacoby's before & buy me a drink. if no time to post tomorrow, maybe a review of friday's show at the metro in chi-town. so much dirty mckean buzz.

NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.
NO PEABS AND NO WHATEVS MAKES DAMORE GO SOMETHING-SOMETHING.

i recently chatted w/ sea ray's keyboardist jeff sheinkopf to discuss their current tour, the state of the band, & future plans. unlike other ficticious posts i've made, this one is actually real. their tour w/ metric & the stills hits detroit thurs 5/27 at st andrews, then chicago on fri 5/28 at the metro. if you haven't caught any of these bands before, i highly recommend. i know i've been writing about this alot lately but it's w/ good reason. seldomly does a tour w/ this good of a bill hit a town near you, where tix are inexpensive too.

Damore- 3 weeks ago, Stars At Noon's 'Revelry' was featured on the WB's teen drama show 'One Tree Hill'. Being on a smaller label, how did that opportunity present itself, & have you seen any effect on the age demographic at your latest shows as a result?

Jeff- It's funny, we've heard a lot of comments from people at shows about hearing the music in the background while their moms watched the show...so we're actually waiting a few months until the moms of America start to show up en masse at our shows. I'm imagining some sort of elaborate carpool system at some point. We got a call one day from the music supervisor at the show who wanted to use the music, and
it's hard to turn down an opportunity that will so quickly get the music into the ears of millions of kids (& moms).

Damore- Maybe I should be embarassed to watch that show. So many soccer moms indeed. After 7 years, why do think it's taken people so long to finally catch on to Sea Ray? Do you feel that the nyc/detroit garage/retro rock buzz overshadowed you a bit? W/ that fad fading out now, do you feel you're finally getting some long over-due exposure?

Jeff- We've never really been too caught up in whatever buzz is going on in the music world, though we're obviously aware of what's happening around us. Unfortunately, fads like those do tend to overshadow a lot of great music -- particularly for the fans who aren't willing to do the work of exploring on their own. We're also a different band now than when we started, so it makes sense that it's taken a long time for folks to catch-on to what we're doing. People are getting it now, though, & that makes us happy.

Damore- Your current tour w/ Metric/The Stills is your 2nd major national tour this year, the 1st being supporting The Church. Last year The Stills broke through by opening for Interpol, Echo & The Bunnymen, Ryan Adams, & are now headlining their own national tour. Do you see the same progression happening currently for Sea Ray?

Jeff- It's a pretty typical pattern for bands to follow--build up a fan base across the country by playing to full houses & hopefully win those crowds over. That's definitely the idea we have as to why we keep going out as a support band. Our day will come.

Damore- Since Sea Ray's 1997 self-titled debut, you've been added to line-up on keyboards, Anne Brewster has been added on cello, & Colin Brooks took over on drums. As a result, your sound has really filled out (in a good way). How did the 3 of you come to join the band & are you all happy w/ your special brand of atmospheric brand of symph pop space rock?

Jeff- We all had mutual friends in New York, & the band was looking for a couple new people a few years ago. I wanted to be the drummer, but Mr. Brooks showed up at the same time, & if I had to compare our drumming abilities to trucks, I'd be a Tonka and he'd be a Mack. Luckily I found the Rhodes & it all fell into place. We're all thrilled w/ how it's all going.

Damore- There was a dramatic sound change from your 1st to 2nd album, what's the current vision for your next album? I know 'Stars' was released only last October, but are you working on new material or mainly concentrating on touring/promoting 'Stars' now?

Jeff- The band is actually fairly evenly divided between those who want to keep touring & those who want to hole up in the studio to work on the new record. We're playing several new songs in our set these days, & have a few more ready to go. The problem is that we're all pretty insane about the writing process, & tend to spend way too long working on them after they're already "finished".

Hopefully it won't take as long to get the next album out, but that all depends on what ends up happening on the label front. To me, at least, there's sometimes a drastic change in the sound from one song to the next, so of course, there's going to be a pretty big change from this album to the next.

damore- What does the band do while on tour to avoid boredom? I know you & greg are FOW's (friends of whatevs) & frequent whatevsdotorg. Do you find yourselves on the internet at hotels checking for the latest piping hot content during down-time?

Jeff- Here's the part where I should make up some good stories to make us sound cooler than we are. The truth is that we're mostly big nerds who either read or listen to music. Luckily we lost our travel Scrabble game that we had several tours back, so we can't claim to play that. Indeed, some of us are online all the time, even in the van. It's a welcome distraction from the highways and truck stops across this land.

I'm not sure anything really helps avoid boredom, though. One good aid is VH1 Classics whenever we have the chance. It's like a pacifier for the band. We just shut up and smile.

Damore- Your live shows incorporate a video projection backdrop on stage. As part of the crowd, it feels like the senses are over-taken by the music, the light show, & the video components. VERY FEW bands are able to pull that off so well, (the Flaming Lips come to mind), yet you guys make it look pretty easy. What was the thinking behind that & when did you add the film/video aspect, & who selects the footage to play?

Jeff- Our good friend Brandon Derman is the mastermind. The project started out with Brandon and a few other Brooklyn-based videographers each working on different songs--shooting the footage & editing it down
into mini-movies for each tune--but it's really turned into just Brandon. We've never told him what to do in that regard. He sees our songs in his camera and we respect what he does. & because he tours w/ us, he actually mixes the video live while we play, & I think that's a big reason as to why it works so well. We don't just start a tape when we get on stage and hope it fits with the music.

Damore- What bands/music are you currently listening to out while out on the road?

Jeff-I'm listening to a mix that has a bunch of Mogwai tunes, some new Squarepusher, Ratatat, an English band called Magnet, Cat Power, Dead Meadow, & friends of mine from Brookyln called The Double. There's always a lot of classic britpop stuff in there, too. I just took off
my headphones to hear what's on the van stereo & Anne is pumping some OMD. Other popular stuff in the van is Neil Young, Love, The Beach Boys & the like.

Damore- Other than your home-base of NYC, what cities have been your favorite (you definitely don't have to say Detroit) to play/visit? Where have you received the best & most surprising crowd responses?

Jeff- It's a cliche, but people really are extra nice in the south. We feel right at home in Charlotte, NC, for example. Some of the best response has come in Denver, Seattle, Cincinnati, & even Traverse City, MI.

Damore- I don't think i've met a nicer/more down-to-earth band than Sea Ray (obvs-why else would you be doing an interview w/ a D-list blog). The six of you appear to be pretty tight, no?

Jeff- For the most part, we're a tight & happy family. Of course, w/ that comes the occasional argument. But I'm surprised at how well we all get along, actually. I think it has something to do with the fact that we're not all vying for the spotlight, & that we actually have a lot of respect for each other - personally & professionally. It's only natural for us to have that same respect for the fans who have invested time & money into something we're so passionate about. It's hard to properly express how much we appreciate that.

Damore- What's been the weirdest/craziest thing you've seen while out on this tour?

Jeff- I watched a kid approach Anne just last night after our show in Cleveland. He told her he was so moved by the performance that he just had to give her his belt, & he proceeded to hand it right over. That was a little bizarre. We tend to stay out of trouble.

Damore- That ranks pretty high on the creepy scale, even for Cleveland. At a recent show, Colin had a a 103 degree temp & was very sick, yet you managed to go out & put on a flawless show.

Jeff- We all have bad nights, but that can't stop us from putting on the best show possible. Anything else would be unfair to everyone involved. And for the record, Colin w/ a 103 fever is still a better drummer than anyone else I know.

Damore- Sea Ray receives heavy 'word-of-mouth buzz' on blogs such as the real janelle, information leafblower, whatevs, chromewaves, etc etc etc. are these friends of yours', or simply fans connecting to the band both musically & personally, doing whatever they can to promote?

Jeff- We're all friends now. They all took it on themselves to promote the band on their sites, & we're grateful that they have. I keep in touch with a bunch of bloggers, and it's great when people come out to see us when we're in town. We're part of the first generation of bands who are meeting fans at shows that tell us about the blog where they discovered us.

Sea Ray is thinking of starting our own blog and we're
just going to hype the other bloggers.

Damore- What are the band's plans once the current Stills/Metric tour wraps up in July? Do you see a Coachella performance in the cards for next year?

Jeff- Even though it's just a month away, it's pretty tough to predict July plans...We may very well be back on the road at some point, though most likely we'll be home working on new stuff until we get the call to head back out. And hell yeah, I hope we make it out to Indio next year.

Damore- Jeff, thanks for your time. I really appreciate it. Cheers!

5) whatevs.org- a victim of his own success. zero bandwidth=zero buzz. it's your long over-due vacation from blogging. maybe you'll get promoted to a VP level during the down-time?

4) tony little- i saw a few tv spots for hooters featuring fitness 'guru' tony little. not much would be worse than walking into a hooters & having tony little badger you to enter a contest to win a 'gazelle' fitness glider. duhvs they're cross-marketing the gazelle & hooters, cos so many dudes go to hooters to see tony little cardboard cut-outs, & to see the gazelle glider in person. lord knows there aren't already at least 5 gazelle infomercials playing all day every day. whomever is responsible for choosing this guy should be killed, or at the very least get fired.

3) mountain dew- i love mountain dew, but to stay on the wtf?! advertising theme, i have to say that having steven seagal as your big celeb product pusher in a tv advertising campaign in 2004 ain't so bright. i've seen the commercials a few times where seagal is in a convenience store & beats up everyone in the store. maybe 12 years ago, when he wasn't making straight to vhs movies w/ washed-up playmates & terrible rappers. even still it's a stretch. was jean claude already booked-up? did stallone want too much $ since those wildly successful rocky/lipton iced tea ads?

2) pepsi fridge-mate- pepsi, 3 months behind coke, finally launched it's version of the 'fridge pack' (a fridge-space-conscious 12 pack design). unfortunately, every single one i've purchased thus far has been more shoddy than guatemalan-made cars. they all break when you try to open them properly, & 12 cans no doubt hit the deck every time. worst. buzz cola you are not.

1) 'the chronicles of riddick'-the highly anticipated follow-up to 'pitch black'? that movie was durst lumber. some say worse than 'XXX'. vin diesel is probably the worst acting big name star since keanu. good luck this summer, it's the abortion time of the year at dollar theatres nationwide, & you're the equivalent of scooby-doo 2. see you on the shelves at blockbuster in august.

so brilliant i gave it it's own posting. eph everybody else out there, the gorilla was the ONLY one to respond. time to cry myself to sleep again.

1)Chryssa Koveliotou, Robert C Duncan and Christopher’s Feb 2003 article, Magnetars, in Scientific American. I mean seriously, who doesn’t already know that some stars are magnetized so intensely that they emit huge burst of magnetic energy, potentially altering the very nature of the quantum vacuum? WELL DER! The whole thing about their core’s consisting of a quantum soup of quarks and neutrons was all but lifted word for word from the work J. Von Paradijs did with Kouveliotou in the well know A X-ray Pulsar with a Superstrong Magenetic Field in the Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater SGR1806-20, published in Nature WAY BACK IN 1998!!!! No buzz indeed.

2) Chicks that seem slutty but are really just teases. PUT OUT OR GET OUT! NO BUZZ!

3) Don Rumsfeld- claiming in his sworn testimony before congress that Major General Geoffrey Miller’s trip to Iraq in August of 2003 had nothing to do with the subsequent institutionalization of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. MY SKINNY WHITE ASS! Everybody knows Major General Miller was the in charge of deconstructing the Geneva convention while commander of the detention and interrogation center at Guantanamo. EVERYBODY. I mean seriously, the second he got off the plane back in August every hidden intelligence community chat room filled with policy wonks, ex-CIA and experts from Jane’s Defense Weekly all the way to DEBKAfile were like:
SPYGUY: General Miller just got to Iraq!
CIA_MOLE_42: HOLY SHIITE!
Gook_Killer1968: there’s gonna be some homo-erotic torture up in this piece now biznitches!
SPYGUY: lol. Damn straight.
CIA_MOLE_42: HEY DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO FIX A STUCK CAP LOCK KEY?

Don’t try to pull that bull with us DON, NOBUZZFELD!

4) Dudes who save up all their monster dumps for the shared bathroom at work and just smell the effer up all day. NO BUZZ HEAVY SHITTTERS!

5) Kitties. I mean seriously. I just don’t get em’.

proving that nme isn't ALWAYS just a bunch of good for nothing douchebags, they reveal that the new new order album will be a throwback to their dance music, or technique if you will. that is unless this story is all bs...then i say curse you nme! anyway, i say mmmmBEST! i absopurely loved 2001's 'get ready', just make sure to get a restraining order filed against billy corgan w/ at least a ban of a 5km radius. i fell in love w/ technique instantly, just as i did w/ power,corruption&lies, substance, low-life, get ready,etc. the opposite of what happened when they released 'republic' in '93. i love the opening track, 'regret', but nothing else. let's hope their new stuff isn't 'republic too'. duhvs.

i received an anonymous phone tip yesterday that at 5pm, an announcement would be made that courtney hole was going to be playing a show on july 6th at clutch durstos. tix go on-sale at 10am today. if you're anything like me, you're 6 years removed from caring about miss hole. celebrity skin, one of the best albums in '98, not to mention a great summer album. since then, her erratic druggie-whore persona has worn thinner than lara flynn boyle. the only reason to hit this show is to see what wild & crazy stunt c-love is gonna pull. a fight on stage w/ a bandmate, a fight in the crowd w/ a fan, duhvs she will flash the crowd w/ her wrinkly, leathery skin, only sick f*cks would want to see that for the hundredth time. & clutch cargos, worst venue ever. shmears.

dude, no way! i'm freaking out man! pass the nitrous. wait, who is breaking up? in news that will finally send legions of followers to bathe once again after a 10 year protest, phish inspires their fans once again, by announcing that after their summer tour, they will be hitting the showers. who will their fans follow now for 4/12 months a year smelling poorly & taking drugs to? flaming lips? maybe. string cheese incident? probably. dude, you're on deck, get ready for day2 lollapalooza. load up the petuli oil & the shrooms. oh man, gotta go, i got the munchies.
(news via nummer, no offense intended)

more no-buzz buzz later.

don't forget, tomorrow is the deadline for reader submissions for this week's no buzz list. pick a topic, write why you think it has no buzz, & email it to me at retrobuzz1977@yahoo.com. if response is poor, i'll probably just write one for you under your name.

contraband--best album ever, worst cover art ever. i was expecting some skulls, snakes, blood, cross-bones...you know, something death related, or maybe a trashy album cover. oh well. june 8th can't get here soon enough. i finally saw the video for 'slither' last night. holy shitballs, it's weird. some say just barely better than franz ferdinand's album cover.
(via the grizz)


while on the topic, i think the latest post on whatevs is pretty good-very funny, etc. i found it ironic that uncle grambo blasts the morons who created the lame term 'divizzle' for snoop dogg's divorce. there's alot of crap thrown-out by fow's (myself included)...mizz, smizz, bizz, stizz, tigs all come to mind. now if you're peabs, you can go around pretending you invented all these 'izz' words, or just admit that you ripped off snoop &they should have been franzia'd pre-fetus all along. hmmmmm...i wonder if that paragraph from kate lee (via radosh) is real, or if grambo is starting to doctor up his own emails? either way, it's buzz.

speaking of worst, here's my favorite franz tee.





the libertines have finished their new album, whatever it's called. btw, do the writers at pitchfork try to write like complete a-holes? cos they're so good at it. i'm beyond jealous. a record as terrible as this only comes along once in a generation—okay, maybe once or twice a year. though i'm sure i'll be praising it as the greatest album of '04 in six months. i was so relieved a year & a half ago when i bought 'up the bracket'. i thought i was going to be wasting money on a piece of shite over-hyped abortion of an album & listen to it only once. i gave it a few good listens before banishing it along w/ beck's sea change. it now serves as my warning to not buy music praised-to-fuckdom on blogs. even when the band's decent, it's such a let down. like you're expecting the dom, but you get mums, or worse, cooks champagne. if i hate up the bracket why the eph would like their new one?!

people ask me all the time: 'damore, why are you such an a-hole on your site?', 'why do you rip on franz ferdinand all the time?', libertines, strokes, etc. this is the only response i have: i don't like alot of stuff, but that alone isn't enough to make me go on writing day-after-day about the same topics. what i'm really trying to do is bring some balance to the world, & maybe show that it's okay not to like something everyone is raving about. maybe next time they see something that is wrong or that they don't agree with, maybe they'll speak up. simple promotion of independent thought & free speech. how noble of me.

worst post ever.

mmmmworst. kelly osbourne cast in abc's dramabortion 'life as we know it', which will air for 2 weeks at 9pm thursdays on abc, before getting cancelled. between pink & kelly o, i'm not sure who's grosser. going up against tru calling in the same timeslot? no contest. duhvs. go back to rehab & die! speaking of worst, i saw the 2nd charlie's angels movie on cable & nearly threw up during pink's cameo at the dirt bike race. her stomach freaks me out.

how about calling it the 'yeah you're always, up to no good tour'? phantom planet contemplates suicide, will join hoobastank on tour this summer. i've been harshing on phantom planet since schwartzman bailed & since their most recent album came out in january. i'm thinking of buying the album, & potentially see them in concert. i can't get that song out of my dome. seriously.


went to the sloan show at st andrews last night. so many cannucks were there at the sold-out show, the d being a border-town & all. sloan sounded great, had a good time on stage, & the crowd went bananaz. a girl close to the stage passed-out at ~half-time & the band stopped & called for security/assistance. the girl was fine & as she was being carried out, jay ferguson said 'that girl was cute...why couldn't that have happened to some guy instead?'. they did a great job of mixing the set-up pretty well, playing power pop rock from most of their albums. sloan...quite possible the best export from canada since labatt blue light. they finished up their mini-us tour in june, then hit the road in july opening for jet.

speaking a good canadian bands, this week also features 2 shows w/ montreal's the stills & toronto's metric. they'll be stopping by the d thurs 5/27 for a show at st andrews & then fri 5/28 in checkago at the metro. tix are still available. the complete bill is top notch: sea ray/metric/the stills. sea ray & metric alone are worth the price of admission 2x.

canadian indie rock band broken social scene has also been added to the lollapalooza line-up this summer. hopefully the lovely emily haines from metric will be there too. i never heard anything by them (broken social scene) until going to coachella. since then i picked-up 'bee hives' & have been giving it heavy rotation on my ipod (in my mind). maybe they read peabs' blog too? a new song's working title is 'handjobs for the holidays'.

too much canadian speak for me.

saturday i was driving home from the 'dirty kroger' grocery store in gp, & an erratic cop car did a wild u-turn & was about to plow through a red light at my street's intersection, as i approached the light. i thought he was maybe responding to an emergency & needed to blow throught the red light. i had the greenlight, but stopped cautiously & waved him to proceed. i was smoking a cigarette & threw the butt out the window. he waved me on & in my rear view i see him do a 180 turn on his lights/siren & floors it to catch up to me. i live about 12 houses from the corner so it was ~400 feet or so. i pulled into my driveway having no ephing clue why i was getting pulled-over.

maybe i was too polite at a traffic light? my car fit the description of a stolen car reported? nope. this douchebag cop pulls into my driveway, leaves the lights on, walks up to the car & asks me 'do you know why i pulled you over?'. i said, 'hi officer, how are you today? no, i have no idea.' he said, 'do you know what the fine for littering is? did you know that throwing a cigarette butt on the ground is littering?'. i answered no, which pissed him off. 'it's $500. do you need a $500 ticket for littering?'. i answered, no. he said 'you defiantly threw your cigarette butt on the ground at the light as to be saying fuck off to me'. i said that certainly wasn't my intent, & that i was even politely yielding to him. he went back to the car & came back 5 minutes later w/ a bull-shit doctored up ticket. he said, 'do you want a $500 littering ticket today?'. i said no, & again apologized. he said ok, let me off w/ a warning & said that if i'm going to throw a cigarette butt on the ground, to not do it in front of grosse pointe city cops. as soon as i got inside i yelled for ~10min, 'fuck you grosse pointe city cops! grosse pointe city cops grosse pointe city cops, they ain't too smart! blow me you franzia ferdinand back alley abortions...etc etc etc'.

somehow forgot to mention this oc/tc buzz on friday, finally after a year of pleading to gail berman, president of fox, they're finally heeding my advice this fall. last summer i bored all my friends to death stating that fox needed to pit their strongest show, the oc, up against the friends/durstvivor 8-9pm competitors & put tru calling in the 9-10pm timeslot (or vice versa) to get a strong lead-in audience. my theory is that they would completely OWN thursday night tv. apparently rupert & co have been reading whatevs/retrobuzz archives & are making that change this fall. i predict the oc will put 'joey' & matt leblanc out of a job in less than 2 months. tru calling will double-up it's audience to ~8mil per week. thursdays, some say the new x-mas, or what have you.

say it ain't so!! jagermeister & slipnot are in bed together. do you like shitty music? slipnot is headlining the jagermeister music tour this summer w/ 2 other shitty bands after a much-too-brief 3 year hiatus from touring. i love jager, but i have to question everything i believe in when i see this kind of marketing partnership. am i walmarts if i like jager? should i be listening to creed & nickelback instead of the verve & the stone roses? um, no. i hope the grizz was joking or drunk on saturday when he said he likes slipnot.

speaking of the grizz, his birthday celebration saturday night at the wab was absopurely mmmmBEST! w/out seantizz & peabs, who were in columbus OH reliving their high-school days going to a jimmy buffett concert, there was a big void in the infrastructure of the fow nation to be made up for. luckily all of the troops rallied & showed up in full force to party. many interesting coversations were had, including a fun exchange between kegzies & myself re: the libertines. the gorilla recorded the long debate, which ended when i finally walked away to get a drink at the bar. the bet being that damore & grambo would think that the libertines forthcoming mick jones colabortion would in 6 months be our favorite album of 2004. no way, franzia's already locked that up. here is a link to the recording (courtesy of the gorilla). as always, the real party didn't start until ~1am, when the hard-core partiers were pretty much the only people left in the bar. things got out of control & at several points i think we were very close to getting bounced out. happy birthday to the grizz, who's b-day is today.

speaking of absopure, another funny thing i saw this weekend was when absopure water had their spot featuring chuck woolery air in a commercial break during vh1's best week ever. the marketing geniuses at absopure have done their homework. 4 out of the 5 retrobuzz readers watch best week ever, & i've been dropping 'absopure' lingo for a couple months now. that's an 80% target market penetration rate.

i finally saw the heavily hyped cold pizza ep from last week featuring ultragrrrl & the 'obvs' throwout. no offense personally to her (i've never spoken to her before), but was wearing a FRANZIA FERDINAND tee really necessary? i would have been okay w/ the killers. speaking of spin mag, can anyone explain why there are like 50 franz ferdinand articles in this month's spin (w/ karen o'durst on the cover)? sorry spin, i'm not writing this to be an a-hole, just as a concerned reader. an interesting comparison might be spin vs nme re: the # of Franzia articles each month.