John McCain Countersues Jackson Browne in Fair Use Trial; Meanwhile, Kool and the Gang Send Barack Obama a Hickory Farms Basket for Repopularizing “Celebration”
Way back in August, when Sarah Palin was still just Alaska’s problem, John McCain used Jackson Browne’s classic 1977 hit “Running on Empty” in an attack ad against Barack Obama’s energy plan. Needless to say, the hippy dippy Browne was decently cheesed at McCain for using the tune without his permission and promptly filed suit against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. McCain, who admittedly had bigger things to deal with at the time, pulled the ad and carried on with his campaign, effectively ignoring the lawsuit until he could finally deal with the matter from the comfort of the Oval Office.
We all know how the rest of the story goes. Obama and his Hopeskateers stormed the polls and snatched victory from the floppy jaw of McCain. Now finding himself with too much time on his hands, McCain needs something to fill the long hours while he patiently waits for death, so he’s decided to tie up some loose ends from his campaign days. First on the list: Jackson Browne. After months of silence, McCain’s fleet of lawyers countered the folkie with two bullshit 20-page motions against his suit. I’d call McCain a sore loser, but at his age he’s probably always sore, so I guess there’s no use in being redundant: McCain is a loser.
The Billboard article describes the first motion about as succinctly as possible:
The first is a standard motion to dismiss, claiming that McCain's use of the song was fair use. The campaign's fair use reading is based on the application of the standard four-factor test that includes the purpose and character of the use of the song (McCain argues it was non-commercial and transformative); the nature of the work (McCain derides the song as old, old, old, with a title that's an acknowledged cliche); the amount and substantiality of the use of the song (McCain only used the title phrase, and cites a recent judgment against Yoko Ono, who had sought to prevent the unauthorized use of John Lennon's ‘Imagine’ in a film); and the effect of the use of the song (McCain says that rather than damage the song's commercial potential, his use ‘will likely increase the popularity of this thirty year-old song’).
Holy Toledo, what a load of caca! The second motion is even worse. McCain claims that Browne is impeding on the Arizona Senator’s free speech by suing over use of the song. As a result, McCain is demanding attorney fees and court costs for his trouble. Goddammit, John McCain, you just ran for president of the United States! You’re telling me you don’t have any money left over to deal with this crap? Rather than go into another paragraph ranting against John McCain (after two years of campaigning, I have already wasted too many paragraphs on that man), I’ll leave you with this video about the ins and outs of fair use. It should explain well enough why, yet again, John McCain doesn’t have a wobbly leg to stand on.
The Jesus Lizard Are Coming! The Jesus Lizard Are Coming! And They Have Reissues!
Another day, another reunion story. But this one's sliiightly -- just slightly -- different. Mostly because it's about a band that people can't accuse of cashing in on the 30th anniversary of punk (they weren't around), or because there's not a reality show about finding love with one of the members (it probably wouldn't capture the Paris Hilton's My New BFF demographic), or whatever else people blame these reunion things on. That band is The Jesus Lizard.
They haven't played a show in 10 years, but next spring they will magically reunite in the oh-so-charming coastal town of Minehead, England for the famed All Tomorrow's Parties festival.
- The date: May 9-10, 2009.
- The players: David Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm. Sims, and Mac McNeilly.
- The other band you can see, if you either (a) live within traveling distance or (b) are a Jesus Lizard superfan who will do ANYTHING to see David Yow sing something off of Goat for one possible last time: Sleep, Devo, Spiritualized, Young Marble Giants, The Cave Singers, Antipop Consortium, and Sleepy Sun.
- The mystery: this is the Fans Strike Back version of ATP, in which attendees vote for the bands they want to see play -- since the votes have not yet been tabulated, not every artist has been announced.
- My vote: Al Franken!!!
In addition to the ATP festivities, Touch and Go will also reissue and remaster several Jesus Lizard albums, including Liar, Head, Goat, and Down, with the expanded packaging and fancy liner notes we reissue collectors have come to know and love. Release dates are set for sometime in May 2009, and Drowned in Sound is reporting that Bob Weston of Shellac will be the man behind the remastering with Mr. Steve Albini himself "sitting in."
Fortunately, if you're broke like me and can't envision yourself getting any closer to this totally bitchin' reunion than maybe possibly saving up for a reissued LP, there is good news. The Jesus Lizard are playing a super-limited, super-secret series of shows (well, "secret" in a they-haven't-revealed-them-yet way) in the months after ATP, concluding with a final final show in the infinitely-closer-than-Minehead city of Chicago next November.
Constantines Play North America Again, White Fans Welcome Them With Apple Pie, Baseball, and Parochialism
After Constantines' first visit to Meh-hee-ko (which we didn't report because we have no confirmed Mexican readers), the band is presumably rushing back to North America to play to whiter audiences.
"I can't wait for their return!" exclaims a pale-skinned TMT reader. "Their music says a lot about my race and the complex history from which I was born into."
The band starts up the tour tomorrow in Waterloo, supporting its latest full-length, Kensington Heights (TMT Review), perhaps one of the "whitest" permutations of rock released since Eric Clapton's The Road to Escondido. Their most recent evidence of whiteness can be heard on the B-side of Constantines' third 7-inch single, "Our Age": a cover of Neil Young's "Fuckin' Up."
^ Obits
HRSTA Are Going on Tour, But Does My Friend Know Who They Are?
Hey, have you heard of HRSTA?
No, what is that?
Nevermind.
Huh?
I was going to write a news story about HRSTA, and I wanted to see how many people actually know them.
Well, who are they?
They're a band on Constellation. They released an album called Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes (TMT Review).
Oh, I know HRSTA!! Mike Moya, Brooke Crouser, Harris Newman, and Eric Craven, right? They released that album last year, and it was recorded and mixed at The Pines in Montreal by David Bryant. If memory serves me, Newman mastered it at Montreal's Greymarket. Right?
Oh shut up.
M83 To Open For The Killers; No, Seriously!
Although the touring combination of M83 and The Killers may seem a bit odd to fans of Anthony Gonzalez’s atmospheric soundscapes (maybe not so much to fans of The Killers’ ’80s rip-offs), the two bands actually have more in common than you think. For example:
- Both bands have charted on Billboard, with M83’s latest album, Saturdays =Youth (TMT Review), debuting at #1 on the Top New Artist Heatseekers Chart and The Killers charting on, uh, every Billboard chart in existence basically.
- Saturdays = Youth is also the #1 record of 2008 at Urban Outfitters (since when do they have the authority to rank albums?), and I’d venture to guess that most fans of The Killers have a few overpriced “vintage” tees and cardigans from the clothing chain.
- Rolling Stone said in their review for Saturdays = Youth that it is full of “70mm songs for John Hughes movies yet to be filmed," and (what a coincidence!) most Killers fans weren’t even in the womb yet when Uncle Buck was in theaters.
If you really want to see M83 live but don’t want to deal with the "angst" of a Killers crowd, maybe the common ground between the two bands will make you feel a bit better. Or maybe you should just wait until M83 tour by themselves again.
Lykke Li Set to Tour North America; Swedish Crayfish Industry Hoping to Benefit from Tangential Effects of Upcoming "Swedish Invasion"
Ah, Sweden. You good Scandinavian people just keep cranking out the classics. Whether your tastes in the arts run more towards the Runestone (it makes a reference to Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great! OMG!) or towards breathy female pop vocalists, Sweden has something for everything. And it has recently been revealed that Lykke Li, one of this beautiful northern nation's finest indie exports, will be embarking on a North American tour this winter in support of her debut full-length Youth Novels (TMT Review). This is great news, not only because "Little Bit" and "I'm Good, I'm Gone" are stone-cold killer jams, but also because this tour is largely above the Mason-Dixon line, and for those of us living in the wintry Midwest, any artist who goes on tours in February is basically considered some sort of entertainment-bringing demigod who must be revered and celebrated for breaking up our frost-bitten, boring, sozzled monotony.
So, cheers to you, Lykke Li, and your cold-enduring, Walpurgis Night-celebrating compatriots for bringing a little joy into the freezing desolation of middle America. And thank you for this wonderful opportunity to look up your homeland on Wikipedia in order to scrape up even the slightest of content for this story. Without your upcoming tour, I never would've learned about the delightful (and gross) summer tradition of kräftskivor or crayfish dinner parties. Tasty!
RIP: MC Breed, Michigan-Based Rapper
From YouTube:
From Vibe:
Rapper MC Breed, who became famous for his sing-along collaboration with Tupac, “Gotta Get Mine” and "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin,’” has died today [November 22]. He was 36.Born Eric Breed, the Flint, Michigan rapper was found dead at a friend’s house in Ypsilanti Michigan, the Detroit News reports. His manager, Darryl Morris, confirmed his death, but the exact cause is still pending.
In September, Breed collapsed while playing basketball in his stomping ground of Atlanta, and was placed on life support for kidney failure. Friends got together to throw a benefit concert to raise money for his medical bills, but cancelled plans after his health bounced back.
Never fully reaching mainstream status, Breed rhymed proudly about the desolate town of Flint, an urban area usually masked under the wide belly of Detroit. His hit 1991 song, "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'” sampled Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" and the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm.” On “Gotta Get Mine” off his 1993 album The New Breed, he hooked up with a young, thirsty Tupac, and spit the famous line, “They hate to see a young nigga, come up.”
Breed’s career spans 20-years, and 13 albums.
ATP New York Announces Partial Lineup And New 2009 Dates; Animal Collective/Panda Bear/Suicide Lineup So Hot Even The Ladies Sprout Boners
ATP New York, the festival hipsters young and old can enjoy together, is back. The 2nd annual fest is now scheduled for September 11-13, 2009 (instead of Labor Day as previously announced), taking place again at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, New York. Although the co-curator will be announced in the coming weeks (hey, maybe it's us!), the first seven bands have already been announced:
- Friday, September 11 – Don’t Look Back/Comedy:
Dirty Three Performing Ocean Songs
Suicide Performing Suicide
David Cross – Hosting Comedy Stage
- Saturday, September 12 – Curated By ATP:
Animal Collective
Anti-Pop Consortium
Atlas Sound
Panda Bear
- Sunday, September 13 – Co-curator TBA
Tickets are $235 plus a $12 booking fee. Accommodations are available at Kutshers and the nearby Raleigh Resort and are on sale starting today. Go to the ATP website for more information.
Georgia Rapper Sentenced to 20 Years After Confessing to a Shooting in a Song, Biggest Admission of Guilt in a Hip-Hop Track Since Biz Markie’s "Pickin’ Boogers"
In September 2006, Georgia native Chad Blue was shot in the groin and buttocks but unfortunately could not identity his shooter. That is, until recently, when a friend played Blue a track off of Hitting Licks For a Living, an album by aspiring rapper Rico Wright, who claimed, “Ask Chad Blue/ He knows I can shoot.” Well, first of all Rico, you shot a dude in his junk and his trunk. It’s not like you’re gonna hear from the Navy Seals about a sniping job anytime soon. Secondly, you forgot one of the cardinal rules of hip hop: “If a rhyme seems conspicuous/ Keep that shit ambiguous!”
As a result of the unintentional confession, Wright was convicted of aggravated assault. Already serving jail time for selling cocaine, Wright was sentenced to an additional 20 years of incarceration and 20 years of probation. Yikes.
So remember, kids, don’t shoot dudes in the butt, and if you do, don’t fucking rap about it! Did NWA ever name names in their songs? Hell no! Well, except for Strawberry, the Neighborhood Ho. Man, I really hope Strawberry the Neighborhood Ho turned her life around. I think of that every time I listen to “Dopeman.”
Los Campesinos! Bring their New Album's Fatalistic Glee to the Road! Oh, Man!
Dangerously unbridled energy no doubt accounts for the speed in Los Campesinos!'s latest full-length album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. Retaining the same urgency, the band is already making headlines again with the announcement of a 2009 tour. The tour takes Los Campesinos! across the country with openers Titus Andronicus, a Jersey indie rock outfit who also has a senselessly energetic sound, concluding with two dates in New York City (the band's U.S. home away from Wales).
Be sure to rock some caffeine before you go out.
Loney Dear is the Apple of Polyvinyl’s Eye and He Likes to Sit Down Be Cider
All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterwards that is difficult. It seems that every time your head has finally healed from the aftermath of toasting and celebrating one marriage, another has dissolved like so much “special day” champagne that once introduced the newly christened bride and groom. Sigh.
The same thing happens all the time in "the industry," but, thankfully, here is a union that seems charmed and that has the potential of being long-lasting and meaningful from the onset: Polyvinyl has signed the immensely talented home recording whiz Loney Dear to its roster! Loney Dear, the pseudonym for Jönköping, Sweden’s Emil Svanängan, will release his new album January 27. Dear John will be the fifth album for Svanängan and third to be released in North America (2007 saw the re-release of 2005’s Loney, Noir by Sub Pop and 2006’s Sologne by Rebel Group).
Here’s to the happy couple, and remember: a honeymoon should be like a table -- four bare legs and no drawers! Bah, my efforts are spent on all you wasted wedding crashers!
Dear John’s dear songs sear dongs:
1. Airport Surroundings
2. Everything Turns to You
3. I Was Only Going Out
4. Harsh Words
5. Under a Silent Sea
6. I Got Lost
7. Summers
8. Distant
9. Harm
10. Violent
11. Dear John
Svanängan practices polyamory, or group marriage, as well. But only when he plays live. Here is the list of upcoming Loney Dear “group” shows, including two December dates in New York and a just-announced 2009 American tour. Many gigs we be opening for confirmed swinger Andrew Bird
12.08.08 - London, England - Old Blue Last
12.10.08 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
12.12.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
12.28.08 - London, England - St. Giles Church
01.29.09 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
01.30.09 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre #
02.03.09 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
02.04.09 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse #
02.06.09 - Orlando, FL - Plaza Theater #
02.07.09 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues #
02.09.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
02.10.09 - Houston, TX - Rudyard’s British Pub
02.11.09 - Denton, TX - Hailey’s
02.12.09 - Austin, TX - Paramount Theater #
02.13.09 - Albuquerque, NM - Historic El Rey Theater #
02.14.09 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater #
02.17.09 - Visalia, CA - Howie and Sons Pizza
02.18.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre #
02.19.09 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore #
02.20.09 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore #
02.21.09 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater #
02.23.09 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theater #
02.24.09 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House#
02.25.09 - Murray, UT - Murray Theater #
02.26.09 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater #
02.27.09 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown #
03.01.09 - Chicago, IL - Schuba’s Tavern
# Andrew Bird
![<p>Zola Jesus</p> - <p>Stridulum [EP]</p>](http://www.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Album_Review_Content_Page_Art/zola_jesus-stridulum.jpg)
