When watching some great old Weird Al videos on YouTube yesterday, I realized something odd. For a lot of these songs, the Weird Al version seems more relevant. Not only that, but for some, I cant even remember the song he was parodying. Why is that?

Good goofs are persistent. They are general enough so that they outlast the original but specific enough that you know what they’re talking about. Weird Al is a master of this. He makes use a sort of nerdy irony to completely turn a song on its head, and instead of mocking the artist he uses their song as a vehicle to mock himself (see White and Nerdy) or pop culture (see On Ebay=).

I have a strange feeling that in 2050, our culture will have a better recollection of some of these Weird versions then the Backstreet Boys.

Side Note: Watch a very confused but constantly polite young Yankovic in Japan

Photo Credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/toxickaty/76066460/

A little more than a year ago, Greg and I had made our first marketing push for RadioTail. The first Portable Media Expo was approaching and though our software was not fully implemented we had a working and tested technology for inserting audio spots into MP3’s. Instead of trying to wrap up a buggy Beta to demo, we tried something completely different.

I don’t remember who’s idea it was exactly, but after a bunch of brainstorming (and giggling) we came up with SELL OUT BIG TIME. The idea was by being as sarcastic as possible we would try to dispel the myth of taking on advertising being equivalent to selling out.

In one week of 20 hours a day, I churned out selloutbigtime.com (no longer active). Users could upload an MP3 and choose to insert one or more of the mock ads I produced into the file. You could then share the link or put it up on our Hall of Shame. We got a good amount of traffic and some great press.

The most fun of the whole project was creating the fake spots. Greg and I wrote them up in a Writeboard and I enlisted my friends to help me record them. Voices include, Jeff Bartlett (of The Saturday Saints), Derek Sandhaus, Catherine Mathes, and Myself. I did all the music (which is all original) . All in all I produced and recorded 11 spots in a single 24 hours span. I don’t think I’ll go through that kind of madness again, but it was a hellish blast.

Here for posterity and your amusement – Download the Sell Out Big Time ads as a Zip archive

May I introduce to you the iTunes key command that makes me happy:

Option +—> (forward arrow)

I’m an album listener, meaning I don’t like listening to everything on song shuffle, in fact I even hate listening to album tracks out of order. So usually I have iTunes on album shuffle, which in and of it self is an awesome feature. Until today, however, If I got to an album I didn’t feel like listening to, I would skip to the last track and then skip to the next random album. Now with a single command, I can skip to the next random album! Woohoo!

Album of this very moment: Essex Green – Everything is Green

I’m returning to Boston this weekend for a bittersweet event – The Saturday Saints are to play our last show ever. It should be a really good time. I haven’t seen these guys all summer, and not only will it be nice to visit them, it will be nice to rock out. Along with the show, we are also finally releasing the album that we’ve worked on for almost a full year. Kind of a nice ending to an amazing time spent rocking with four of my favorite people.

Jeff made this amazing poster for the show. If you’re in the Boston/Cambridge/Sommerville area tomorrow night, you should definitely come by and buy a CD and say Hi.

Here is a little preview of the album: Friends are tough

A song that will always make me think about summer nights in basements, tasty licks, and my favorite band ever.

I had never sweat that much at a concert. Two years ago, I saw TV on the Radio at The Middle East Upstairs with my buddy, Jon Griener, and my mind was forever blown. We left the club, ears ringing, drenched in sweat, feeling like we just witnessed some sort of tribal ritual. Jon said to me on the way home, “We’ll never be able to see them in such a small venue ever again. We’re so lucky.”

That Jon is a prophet.

Last Friday, Kat and I saw TVOTR at the Prospect Park Bandshell with Matt Pond, PA and Voxtrot. It was part of the awesomely amazing Celebrate Brooklyn! series, which has a load of amazing concerts in Prospect Park every summer. It was a beautiful night and the lawn was packed, by the time TVOTR was about to go on, there was barely any room to stand, let alone sit.

My biggest fear about the concert wasn’t the crowd or the rain, I was worried that the raw explosive energy that I witnessed at the Middle East would be lost on a big outdoor crowd. As if the band emits a burst of heat, that in a big show like this one wouldn’t even reach the third row. I was wrong. Though, certainly not the rhythmic fireworks display of two years ago, the energy that the songs and the band posses are completely infectious. Its impossible not to move something.

I’m looking forward to getting a copy of their new album when it comes out. You should definitely check out their website which though makes up for its current lack of content with a series of ads/videos (one of which featuring David Cross).

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/heartonastick/179191356/

Their debut full-length, The Loving Sounds of Static is awesome – but personally I think their previous EP, City vs. Country is their pinnacle.

It was a great time and though it was really hot, it was a lot of fun to be baking in the heat to the sounds of good live music. I took pictures, but someone else took much better ones.

Upon returning to NYC, I was once again overwhelmed by the amount of awesome shows coming up this summer. There’s a Village Voice stand right at my doorstep, and the other day I picked up the latest issue and picked out the shows I want to see and put them into a calendar. I don’t think there is any way I could go to every single one I want to go to, but I’m going to try to hit as many as possible.

I’ve published the calendar for all to see. If there are any awesome shows going on that I don’t know about – make me aware.

I first heard about the Monome 40h back in April, before MakerFaire, and I’ve been coveting one ever since.

It just takes one look at the video and my desire rages and the day-dreaming begins. Its like LightsOut meets an MPC, with way more functionality.

What I really want is them to make a kit, thats a little cheaper, that I can solder together myself. I really like the possibilities this type of control could have for not just dance and ambient music, but Hip-hop as well. Live beats! A 40h + MsPinky would be unstoppable . . .

. . . to daydream . . .

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdu/133708748/

We started off strong – but I couldn’t get into the groove at first. When we got to ‘Pocket’, the one song I sing, I made a conscious effort to flip out rock and roll style and turn my energy up to 11. Let me tell you – it felt awesome.

After the show – a little after-party in Brooklyn with all the people I wanted to see and hang out with. Thanks to everyone for making the trip be it from Philly, Boston, LI, or Newkirk Ave.

If you want to see some pictures, keep an eye on Kat’s Flickr Stream

The video is also an awesome rendition of one of my favorite Tom Wait’s songs.

Heres the side by side:

Thanks to Kron for lookin out.

Its a real shame that this happened. Grandaddy produced two of my favorite albums of the past decade, Sumday and The Sophtware Slump. Not to mention the fact that they are also a great live band.

Their simple and extremely catchy sound has a real association with summer for me. Hopefully their final album will carry me through the next one.