Skating Polly, Lost Wonderfuls
photo via MentalSwag
A couple weeks ago, I was trying to create a Spring playlist to play while unpacking my new house and general “fun” adult stuff. I couldn’t think of but a few new songs I liked well enough, and had the spring-y vibe, to add to the list.
Then the lovely Liz tweeted about an interview she did with Skating Polly, a riot grrrl band if there ever was one. With a 13-year old frontwoman. And an album produced by Exene, from X.
Their album Lost Wonderfuls was just released early April, and it really is a great album for rolling the windows down and letting loose on a Friday night.
Also, I love this version of “Mr. Proper Englishman.“
Don’t take my word for it, you can also get Exene’s take on these little rockers:
Sound City: Reel to Real
This morning just got 20x better. Thanks to Drew Magary, I found out that NPR is streaming the Sound City soundtrack today. I thought about saving this for links of the week, but I wasn’t sure how long it would be streaming.
“Thanks for the info, Jess, but what the heck is Sound City?”was what I heard from the ether. And just let me take a little excerpt from the amazon info page about it, if you must know:
“SOUND CITY, the film, was conceived by Grohl after purchasing the legendary custom-built Neve 8028 recording console from Sound City Studios last year. The board, built in 1972, is considered by many to be the crown jewel of analog recording equipment, having recorded such artists as Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Guns and Roses, Metallica, NIN, Rage Against The Machine and countless other musical legends over the past 40 years.
SOUND CITY–REAL TO REEL is a brand new collection of all-new all-original songs, each one composed and recorded exclusively for the film within its own 24-hour session on that console after it was reinstalled in Grohl and his Foo Fighters’ own 606 Studios. The new tracks–featuring an amazing and idiosyncratic cast of collaborators including Paul McCartney, Grohl’s former Nirvana and current Foo Fighters bandmates, Stevie Nicks, Rick Springfield, Trent Reznor, Joshua Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Lee Ving of Fear, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine and more–passionately exemplify SOUND CITY’s celebration of the human element of musicianship and recording in an increasingly digital world.”
So yeah, it’s awesome, and I can’t wait to listen to it in my car, flying through the desert and waiting for the new Queens of the Stone Age album to be released.
Friday Links, Ready to Go
I had started to make the link collage and realized, I just like this photo better. From my recent camping trip.
Here’s some happy discoveries for this week:
♠ Freetail Brewing is a brewery in San Antonio and yes, they’re named after a bat. I want to go to there.
♠ I don’t really need to say much besides: bacon BBQ hot dogs. But I will mention this video about why you should spiral cut your hot dogs. More nooks and crannies!
♠ On the note of grilling (we keep our BBQ’s fired up year-round in these parts), a grilling cheat sheet, maybe the most important cheat sheet.
♠ Did you any of you receive the delia*s catalog when you were middle-schoolers (maybe the only mail you received), and go through and reinvent yourself through clothes you probably wouldn’t buy? I used to think if I had some of the cute dresses and shoes in there, I would instantly become cool. I never did. :/ But, I am happy to say they are still around, and I am seriously considering investing in some shoes. They might not make me cool, but they will help me keep up my Twin Peaks/Lady Lumberjack/Camp Counselor vibe from summer to fall/winter.
♠ This is their list from last week, but babble’s DIYs of the week is a great resource for goodies, and this one includes some mail art ideas!
♠ I was going to do a special Oktoberfest post, but since I’m not really planning a whole lot this year, I thought I’d let my newsletter from Zane Lamprey’s Drinking Made Easy do the hard work. There’s some historical trivia (my favorite!), a beer-stat inforgaphic, and even a beer milkshake recipe! Check it out while you “PROST!”
♠ Lastly, more autumn goodness – I have been playing this “Harvest Moon” cover over and over when I’m by myself:
Podcast Love
groovin on podcast love.
I love podcasts. The more I listen to them, the more I try to think about why I like them so much. Other than the fact that so many people tell me that I was born in the wrong decade – the 40s & 50s were really my time – and during that era radio shows were still popular, I think I love podcasts for their enviable storytelling abilities. They make up in fabulism what I severely lack.
I’ve made a list of my very favorites, and ones I’m getting ready to jump into because they have been highly recommended by people whose minds I know and trust.
- My Brother, My Brother and Me (MBMBaM for short). Three brothers who give advice to those who ask for it, and ridicule (and possibly give very bad advice) to the people of Yahoo Answers. It sounds pretty straightforward, but these guys are so funny that they were my starting point for podcasts.
- Thrilling Adventure Hour, especially Beyond Belief. I could only hope I can grow into the alcoholic shoes of Sadie Doyle. She is classy, sweet, saucy and terribly, terribly funny. And PFT, well, he’s just like his bio says, “America’s finest…” Start anyplace you’d like, but here is the link to the soundcloud audios.
- How Stuff Works podcasts (especially Stuff You Missed in History Class). I like these on days I feel unproductive. They’re nice and short, and they make me feel like I learned something. So even if I don’t do anything else all day, I learned one thing.
- Ear Wolf shows. You could pretty much close your eyes and pick a show on the Ear Wolf lineup and hit a winner. My favorites are Sklarbro Country, How Did This Get Made, Comedy Bang Bang, Who Charted?
- WTF with Marc Maron. He’s a comedian who invites people on a show he produces from his garage. So awesome on so many levels. Sometimes his guests are people that he has had beef or problems, or didn’t like in the past, and that is a very interesting way to talk through it: invite them to talk about it on a public podcast! But since he’s been a stand-up comic for a while, he has a lot of great stories about being on the road, or to commiserate with other guests on the show. Amy Poehler got an apology from him when she was on his show because he would never help her out when she was first in the Second City circuit.
Here a couple that people have recommended, but I haven’t yet delved into yet for some straaaange reason:
- Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, recommended by both GillianTheGreat and The Beau. “the podcast where your hosts Michael Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh eat, discuss, and rate snacks. ” I don’t think i need to say anything that hasn’t been said already. Sounds fantastic.
- Hardcore History, recommended by Ben Fowlkes. With titles like “Death Throes of the Republic”, “Old School Toughness” and “Suffer the Children” how could I be kept away?
- Pod F. Tompkast. Recommended by everyone who has discerning ears. I don’t know why i haven’t gotten to this one yet. I listen to Beyond Belief, I listen to Comedy bang bang, those all have the Tompkins element, why don’t I take the leap?
Do you have any more recommendations for me to add to my heaping List o’ Listening?
Summer Playlist
This is my playlist for humid, hot, windless summer nights, and for summer parties filled with twinkling lights and mason jars filled with gin rickeys:
Rumble – Link Wray
This is Not a Love Song – Nouvelle Vague
Sittin on the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
Mr. Tangerine Speedo – Caviar
Blue Bayou – Linda Ronstadt
Rollin in the Deep – Adele (of course, the hit of the year so far)
Summer in the City – Joe Cocker or Loving Spoonful, both are great
Walkin After Midnight – Patsy Cline
The reason I fancy-edited this picture was because the original photo model’s white white arms scared me.
It’s summer, lady – get some sun. P.S. Anyone recognize what amazing summer movie this is from?
Spring Playlist
Everything’s fresh and happy and new and rosy.
It’s spring! Full of spring training ball games, spring cleaning and the parties that following all that cleaning. Plus, only a couple weeks until my birthday!! Gotta get cracking on the last few things on my list!
I have been wracking my brain for a playlist to shake off the wintry blues. I also wanted to be able to share it with you. So I scoured the internet for what to me seemed like the best playlist generator thingy, and in my opinion, grooveshark won because of the vast library it contains.
So here is my spring playlist to you, “Spring Playlist 2011.” I’ll think up a better title for the summer one, I promise! Just click on the picture to be whisked away to Springville!
(original photo via capucha)
UPDATE: I guess I should have said this earlier, but some of the songs are a bit risque. I mean, one is called “Death of a Whore,” which is, you know, self explanatory in the NSFW department.
