Did Aretha really just belt out: "My cunt- (pause)-tree 'tis of thee…."
So after all the speeches and stuff do they go backstage and get their pictures taken in front of the "Absolut Inauguration" wallpaper?

Digg Box
Is the "Digg" logo/button so important that it has to grab such a distracting piece of screen real estate? The "article tools" are just tiny little text links and I can ignore them but the "Digg" logo bugs me.

ABC News just referred to him as "pop-rock guitarist, Ron Asheton."

I need a library that has the Stooges on the shelf.

Che Carumba!
I always thought Che Guvera was a bit of a tool. Mostly because I used to work across the street from the Cuban mission in New York and it was like a 24/7/365 hot-bed of screaming ex-pat protesters. Ay Yi Yi!

Yikes
Never found Lang very funny or interesting. Always thought he was a bit of a drag on the Stern show. But after seeing him on Conan a few weeks ago it's apparent that he is more of a sad spectacle than a real talent. It's a pretty grotesque shtick - even for the Howard Stern show.

People magazine? The Jonas whatsis?
People magazine and the Jonas Bros. got together and produced a treacly, glossy magazine pictorial? Say it ain't so!

I'm not baiting on MacKaye or Fugazi (o.k. maybe just a bit) but if I knew that everytime my band went on tour there would be a couple people spending the rest of their lives paralyzed, I'd be pretty down on the whole idea of giant punk shows. And yeah, it was apparently why he's not doing 'punk' stuff. And I don't…

Hacky Shack
I like lots of artists that most art snobs would consider hacks. But Kinkade really gives hacks a bad name. He's a real one-trick pony - that pseudo expressionist thing - and he doesnt do that any better than an assembly-line painter from Taiwan. The Nascar piece has this weird, ugly perspective. And for…

Zappa Theta Crappa
I tolerated Zappa a bit more when I was a precocious teen and while I can still listen to bits here and there, my skin crawls when people are a bit too adamant about him. The best thing about Zappa was how incredibly pretentious he was - while simultaneously calling everyone out on their own…

Somewhere out on the digital-interwebs is a sad, poignant interview where Mr. Mackaye discusses the demise of Fugazi. The interviewer asks why Fugazi stopped playing shows. Mackaye hypothetically asks the interviewer if anyone ever ended up paralyzed because of something the interviewer wrote. Hence, the last time I…

Tucker Max…
…is some kind of phenomenon that I couldn't imagine happening without the internet. It would be easy to hate on his book but it's hardly the worst thing in the world. It's just so…worthless? And I mean that in a nice way. It's a light brand of nihilism. Sort of a frat-boy (or 'bro) Hunter S. Thompson minus…

Forgotten but not forgotten
1. Graham Parker
2. Ian Dury & the Blockheads
3. Dave Edmunds
4. Marshall Crenshaw

I can think of more efficient ways of trying to improve a community than a punk rock show - especially a show that takes place in a for-profit venue like many Fugazi shows did (e.g. the notoriously sketchy Roseland Ballroom in NYC.)

Huh? What?
Ride? Tarantula? Who? What? Sorry but I have no idea who Ride is and I suspect I am not alone. It certainly piqued my curiosity to see them mentioned alongside the Beach Boys, Steely Dan and Fallout Boy. Either Jason Heller is pulling a sort of record-store clerk finishing move or I have some gaps in my…

Again with old hipster guy stuff…but I was all about Judas Priest while they were still pretty obscure. Back when hipster cred was measured in how many obscure "imports" you owned. It was probably around "Rocka Rolla" in '74 or so that I first found out about Judas Priest. It was quite the thing to hear it blasting…

"Better work hard because I saw the Clash"
Not to get all old-guy snarky (maybe excepting the guy who saw Hendrix) on the young turks but…I saw the Clash 5 times — so shut up. On the down side, the last outing was the execrable "Cut The Crap" tour at Rutgers University. The less said about that, the better. (although…