Sloan - TONIGHT!

at the Rex Theatre.  Can Rock!  Tonight bastards!!!! Too bad our Can Pals aren't down here to enjoy it with us.



and thanks to the Nate Corner for tipping us on this band who were jackt to see as the opener...



FCKYA!!!!!

We love our Disco!!!

We've been pretty fortunate around these parts with our head coaches. The Rooney family gave us Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and now Mike Tomlin. And while the Pens haven't had the same stability at the head coach position (said in ESPN expert voice), we're pretty blessed to have Disco Dan Bylsma leading our favorite team. Pure class guy.  Dude is the epitome of a leader.

I surely thought that the NHL "brain trust" would mess this up, but Bylsma was the clear cut choice for the Jack Adams that he won last night. 106 points, only 1 point away from tops in the conference, considering: without Malkin for the 2nd half, Staal for the 1st half, a plethora of W-B/S dudes playing a major role, and without the best player in the world for the 2nd half...that's a solid effort.

When Bylsma first replaced Michel Therrien mid-season 2009, most of Pittsburgh was like, "who's this dude?" We soon found out that, not only could he pluralize words, but he could get the max potential out of the talent in organization.



this speech alone was worth the award...



(yes...we've played this a million times here, and will continue to do so)

Arrivederci Marco Materazzi

The 37 yo central defender is being let out of his final year with my beloved Inter Milan. We will miss you buddy. In Marco's honor, we will retire my Inter #23 home jersey, the very first soccer jersey I got way back (a whole 5 years ago) when I fell in love with the game. It's going to be hung in the rafters of the man cave. Mr. Materazzi has not returned our phone calls about attending the ceremony.

Word on the streets: he may be moving to the Prem to join QPR or possibly could land in MLS. TFC, perhaps?!?!?! And then he'll be back at Inter in a management role after his final year of playing.

While the chance of him going to Toronto are pretty much nil, let it be known: I would be the first kid on my block with a Toronto FC Materazzi jersey...if that were to happen.

Pissy Vancouver

Great effort, but then the guy pulls a LaPierre and embellishes with a dive and roll over the car...



jesus. history will be made. yes indeed.


Who, exactly, are these people pissed at?  Aaron Rome, for the cheap shot that turned the series around?  The Sedin twins, who were vacationing in Sweden during the Finals?  Luongo for not grabbing his sack?  Alexandre Burrows for being a little turd stain? Alain Vigneault, whose bitchy whines about Tim Thomas got brushed aside? Alexander Mogilny?

No better way to top the embarrassing way your team went down than to start wrecking shit.

I lost my loot on this series, so that sucks.  But the longer it went on, the more difficult it was to cheer for these ass bags. Shame a dude like Ryan Kesler has to play on this team.

Props to the Bruins.  Besides Brad Marchand, who needs to lose the diaper, this was a very enjoyable team to watch.  Like Kesler from Vancouver, Milan Lucic is another dude we'd love to see in a Pens sweater.  Tim Thomas played out of his mind, and appears to be a class act...the oppo of Luongo.  Bergeron, Peverley, Krejci, Horton, Seidenberg...all solid dudes that we could cheer for.

Mark Recchi...meh.  Mixed feelings there.  Great memories of that first Cup in Pittsburgh, but he turned into kind of a whineberg during his last stint here.  I wouldn't say I hate him...just meh.  I won't miss him, put it that way.

3.5 months until they drop the puck again.  We'll miss you hockey.

Peter Hook talks Ian Curtis

 #22 of the 50 Key Events In the History of Indie Music by The Guardian, Peter Hook discusses the time surrounding the making of Closer and Ian's suicide.  Pretty good little read for the Joy Division fans. 

chilling...



:07 Hook's bass line, :48 Sumner's riff, 1:40 Curtis loses control, all wrapped in a bow by Morris's perfecto drum beats. fckya.

Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour

effin love Kathleen Hanna. Bikini Kill, the "Bull in the Heather" vid, Le Tigre, whatever it takes...I think we need a little more KH in our lives. Just ordered my copy of Who Took the Bomp?, which was just released a couple days ago.

here's a clip form the DVD, which highlights Le Tigre's 2004 tour.  "Deceptacon" -

Weezer doing "Paranoid Android"

checked out Weezer a couple weeks ago at Pittsburgh's new Stage AE on the North Shore (not a bad little venue). They did this Radiohead cover live, and gotta say it was pretty darn cool...

Craig Adams inked to 2 more years!

Craig Fucking Adams. Yes indeed sir. I love this guy.  With a middle name like Fucking, how do you not want this guy back on your roster. Do you remember the 5 skaters on the ice when the Pens beat the Wings for the Cup? I do. And Craig Fucking Adams was one of them. You know why? I do. Because he's a beast.  Disco Dan knows this.

CFA will get $675,000 / year for the next 2 years. God bless Ray Shero. That's incredible value. True, CFA isn't going to get you many goals. You're not gonna put him along side 87 or 71. He's a 3rd / 4th line mucker, grinder, loose puck finder. He's a beast on the PK. He blocks shots. He wins draws. He's the smart veteran savy dude you need on Stanley Cup winning rosters. He's an Ivy League dude for chrissakes.

Bravo Ray. And welcome back, CFA.

Next on my "want list": Pascal Dupuis.  Actually, Pascal was first on my want list, with all due respect to CFA.  Word on the streets: Pascal wants a 3-year deal, while Ray rarely gives 30+ dudes more than 2 years.  Do it Ray.  Do it.  Sometimes, you gotta step outta the box.  Remember that time you traded for that big stiff Ponikorovsky from Toronto?  That was out of the box.  OK...so that didn't work out too well....bad example.  But anyways...we want Super Duper back in the fold.  The flexibility he adds...you can play him with 87...71...any line you want.  Sure, he's more suited as a 3rd liner, but he can still get you 15 or so goals while killing every penalty ever committed.  Get him back Ray.  Do it.  Do it.

more Times New Viking stuff

Times New Viking loves their GBV and Fleetwood Mac.  from Off Modern (thanks to gbvh for the forward)

Beth Murphy, on touring with GBV:

"A dream come true. We all lost our voices, not from singing our songs, but from singing along to them every night."

new video for "Try Harder", the song Adam "dedicated" to GBV in Iowa...


Times New Viking - Try Harder from Merge Records on Vimeo.

a couple of live soundcheck tunes in Atlanta, courtesy of Paste Magazine can be seen HERE.

and finally...i got pretty jackt when i heard jables was coming down from Canada for the Pittsburgh show. was rawking some TNV with the TV on mute late Saturday night when I got the news...

Times New Pittsburgh from Almost Human on Vimeo.

Archers of Loaf Reissues

in case you haven't heard...Merge Records is reissuing all 4 Archers of Loaf studio albums, starting with our favorite, 1993's Icky Mettle.  FCKYA!  You can pre-order a limited edition copy on blue vinyl thru Merge now.

Also...set yer calendars for June 24th when they'll be playing live on Jimmy Fallon.



thanks to jables from the Nate Corner for the heads up!

Those Darlins ~ Brillobox this Friday

a few shows playing around the Burgh this Friday night, including a couple of Chicago bands - Smith Westerns at Mr Smalls, and Sarah and the Tall Boys at Peter B's Dance Barn (thanks Jerry!).  One that caught my eye a while ago was this Those Darlins band, playing at the Brillobox.

Those Darlins have been touring around with another of our favs of recent times, Best Coast.  And now they invade our favorite venue in our fair city. Just heard the title track from their new album Screws Get Loose over on XM, and I think I'm sold.  Tickets available HERE.

fun little tune, released as a 7"...



another catchy one, and a super cool animated video...

Propeller # 125 up on eBay

No...not mine.  Not sure who this individual is, but he's got 100% positive feedback.  And this one appears to be a nice one with an A+ rating.  Sounds like he just got it signed by everyone from the "classic lineup" as well, so that's kinda cool.  At the time of this writing, it's got 7 + days left and currently sits at $510.

Happy bidding.

Look, it's hockey

Been pretty quiet on the hockey front around here, but this got me outta my bean bag chair pretty quickly last night.

Godspeed to Nathan Horton. This blatant attempt to injure cheap shot had us kinda grossed out last night. Puck is long gone, Aaron Rome sizes up Horton, leaves his feet, and tries to end Horton's Stanley Cup Finals early...which he most likely did. Not wishing the worse for Horton, but what if he wasn't reported to have been moving his extremities afterwards at Mass General Hospital (and, as Don Cherry added, his arms and legs). What if Horton was paralyzed before a national audience on the NHL's biggest stage? Would that finally force the NHL's hand into doing something about this garbage?



Brendan Shanahan...your move.

My money is backing Vancouver this series, which has put me in a weird place.  I'm finding this team pretty hard to cheer for, especially after last night's episode with Rome.  Maxim LaPierre continues to flop all over the ice like a crippled seal.  Obviously, this part of his game hasn't left him from his days in Montreal.  And Alexandre Burrows is doing his best impersonation of a giant turd stain.  He's pretty annoying, but in the grand scheme, fairly harmless...unless consumed.

Claude Julien, using his best coach speak, did not approve of Milan Lucic taunting Burrows, but we thought it was hilarious.  End of the 3rd period, Burrows takes a "hit" from Lucic, and proceeds to act like he took a hacksaw to the jugular.  So Lucic responds with a "I'll give you something to cry about" punch to the head.  We say Bravo.  Then, with two linesman between them, Burrows imitates the angry batter who gets plunked and wants a piece of the pitcher...only after he can't get to him due to others impeding his progress. Tough guy.

So Lucic sticks his finger in his face, offering Burrows a little snack to chew on. Absolutely hysterical!!!

I've always been a big fan of Milan Lucic, but he climbs the ladder even further with this move...



The 8-1 Bruins trashing of the Canuck makes this a series, which is probably a good thing for the neutral hockey observer. And again (Jay Caufield), I'm in a perplexing situation rooting for some guys I really don't like. Although I guess Brad Marchand is kind of a worm, too. And that Chara hit earlier this year in Montreal was pretty cheap.

Go Canucks, I guess.

been busy listening to the Birdcage. ILB.

The 2-3-whatever week EC hiatus is over.  Call it a mini-slump.  I'm back...ready to come outta my shoes.  Back in the box and ready to rake!  Sorta like a bastard.  It's time to get this stupid blog going once more.  Gonna feed it a ribbon of fat.  Speaking of...

Been listening to Robert Pollard's new album Lord Of the Birdcage pretty much non stop since it arrived last week.  Mixing in a little Times New Viking (playing the Burgh Friday July 22!!), but it's been mostly Bob and the Birdcage non stop.

I'm officially placing it atop my favorite Bob albums of the year, ahead of the Mars Classroom record from the previous month. I've heard the term grower, but there's some instant hits throughout. If I had to rate the 12 tunes off of LOtB, I would probably place the following somewhere in the middle...



Not saying I'm not a fan of "Silence Before Violence", this record is just that good. Not since We All Got Out Of the Army, can I remember taking a record and just flipping it over and over and over over...

btw: don't know who mordantfilms is over on the YouTubes, but props mate. Actually, "Silence Before Violence" may move up my personal LOtB chart after watching that.

and thanks to gbvh once again for the forward and the motivation :)

buy Lord Of the Birdcage at Rockathon.