The World Cup will be great to watch. Games are less than 2 hours long (with no commercials except at halftime) and the USA is going to party like it's 1776/1950 vs. England. Particlarly if the English keep misspelling everything and put Paul Robinson in goal.

Horses for Courses
"Lyin' Ass Bitch" by Fishbone - on repeat when I get dumped.
"Fear of a Black Hat" as soon as I get the entertainment center set up in a new place.

Fear of a Black Hat >>> CB4.

Conspiracy Man is in no mood to hear about non-Atlanta Falcons teams on this rainy 3rd person Thursday.
Ryan. Turner. White. Gonzalez. Abraham. A competent Defense. That's right bitches - our 40 year history of never having back-to-back winning seasons is coming to an end.

For a while, James Brown's band was "The Better than Average Black Band."

The second half of Rid of Me still makes my boulders swell.

I'm from Georgia and have never met Stipe, but I did sit next to President Carter for an entire Braves game in 2007. He stayed the full nine innings (unlike most Braves fans), ordered peanuts and Coke, and was a real sweetheart of an older gentlemen… even when drunks kept asking him to take pictures with him.

There are lots of brilliant little touches in Do the Right Thing, as with many Lee films. I have always believed that "Mookie" on Spike Lee's uniform is folded over to "Nookie" when he visits Rosie Perez… and I love the fact that the pizza brought in during Inside Man is from Sal's Famous - so you know that Sal (and…

Elvis was a hero to most…
and then Michael married his daughter (MJ FTW).

If there is any justice in this world, NWH should open for them.

I am boycotting the UEFA Champions League until they let Aaron Lennon play.

"Bridge Over Troubled Waters" definitely… not the Simon & Garfunkel one, but my grandmother's solo gospel piano version. The first song I remember…

Below the Apes / Above the Angels

Dissed in the Malibu?

Come On You Spurs. You are My Lennon / My Aaron Lennon, etc.

Don't worry, Doc. Africa/Brass could get the bad taste of Giant Steps out of your mouth.

"Fear of a Black Hat" is my sacred cow also. If Ice Cold, Tasty Taste, and Tone Def don't work for you, then it's best if we avoid each other.
"Ain't you the n**** that shot one of our managers?"

Swervedriver: Raise or Mezcal Head?
Thanks for another good article, Noel. I found it interesting that you felt that Swervedriver never outperformed Raise. I always felt that Mezcal Head offered a few layers - storytelling (Satansville and Harry & Maggie), dynamic changes, vocal ranges - that Raise didn't have… but…

Atlanta Record Store
Noel - I believe that you are referencing Criminal Records in L5P (Little Five Points - Atlanta) in your Peter Buck / Soft Boys tale. It still survives, but higher rents and increasing gentrification will make long-term staying power tough.
It's a Conspiracy…

On Tour?
Radiohead, Prince, and Battles are touring together? This must be a Conspiracy.