Tons of Shows Added, This Weeks Highlights

I finally did some calendar updating and there's a ton of quality shows coming up soon. Some highlights for this coming week.

Say Hi on Wednesday
Formerly named Say Hi to Your Mom, the Seattle indie-pop band will be in Danbury with Jukebox the Ghost. Earlier this year the band released The Wishes and the Glitch, which is a favorite of mine for 2008. Jukebox the Ghost has been gaining adoration lately with their April release Let Live and Let Ghosts. Honestly, Ed, you guys should really do to this. The Dodos are also today and if I haven't seen them live twice already I would definitely be recommending them here too. Say Hi will be in Cambridge, Mass. the day before and Brooklyn the day after.

Downloads:
Say Hi - Northwestern Girls
Say Hi - Toil and Trouble

Tegan and Sara on Saturday
A week from today everyone's favorite twin sister, lesbian indie-pop band (are there any others?) will be Worchester with City and Colour and Girl in a Coma. I'm just really glad they stopped bring that all-girl hip-hop group with them on tour. They were bad.

Tegan and Sara released The Con last year to much praise (from myself included). In fact it ranked at #5 on our Top 20 list. Interesting to look at a year later to see how it held up. We definitely bought into the Radiohead hype a bit too hard. And some are way too high (White Williams, Jamie T) and some too low (LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A.). Anyways, go see Tegan and Sara, they are great.



Speaking of Saturday and female hip-hop, there's a great show that I plan on being at in Brooklyn that day. Menya will be playing at the Asterisk Gallery with Figo. A couple dudes from the Rapture will be DJing (I assume) after the show.

Jenny Lewis on Sunday
Good timing for you Connecticutians. Her second solo album, Acid Tongue, was just released on Tuesday and now you've had enough time to fall in love with it, remember all the lyrics, and creep Lewis out by how well you know it. The A.V. Club gave it a solid B+. I personally have not heard it, but I would definitely take their word on it.

What I'm Doing Tonight

You asked, right?

We already know what Ed and Melissa are doing. There is an art festival happening near my work in DUMBO tonight, but that means I'd have to drink from 6-7 and convince people to meet me out here. And no one wants to come to DUMBO. However, Deli Magazine is putting on a free show/exhibition/party as part of Art Under the Bridge on Saturday, which is more tempting.

Fuck, I just confused Mixel Pixel with Boy Crisis. That's sad. Mixel Pixel is playing The Bodega (1089 Broadway) tonight. Not nearly as cool as Boy Crisis, but might as well mention it. Boy Crisis is playing with MGMT, Amazing Baby, Violens, and Francis & the Lights at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Oct. 31st though, which is quite amazing and quite sold out.

Alphabeta (70 Greenpoint Ave.) has a dance party/art opening/remix collective going on tonight thanks to Finger on the Pulse. Again, tempting, but I think I like what Alphabeta is doing Saturday more.

I think Bell at SoundFix wins. It's free, but early. So I guess I could fit in Alphabeta tonight too. For those who don't know Bell, imagine a version of Bjork that I don't hate. To take that comparison further, Bell actually covers "It's Oh So Quiet" AND I like it. I'm a pretty big fan of glitchy blips and they fit really well here. I'll be stopping by on my way out to the bars.

Edit: Just bought tickets for the Mets game tonight. Guess I lied.

Letterman vs. McCain, Day 2. Debates On Tonight!

I hate to get keep talking politics (I know, it's not sexy) on an entertainment blog, but you have to admit it's relevant and occasionally hilarious. As you should know by now, McCain left Letterman at the alter a couple nights ago in order to tend to the current economic crisis we're in. Of course, after he canceled on Letterman he had an on-air interview probably a few studios over with Katie Couric for CBS's Evening News.

He also didn't leave for New York until the following day. Needles to say, Letterman wasn't happy that evening and actually grabbed the news feed while mocking McCain. CBS News Execs apparently we're not thrilled by the move. Letterman was at it again last night anyways (clip below).



In more serious news, the debate between Obama and McCain is on for tonight. It will air at 9 p.m. on, I believe, CNN but I would be pretty shocked if the major networks didn't pick it up too (unless CNN has an exclusive deal for it). The Huffington Post will have a live stream of it too.

An Even Better Palin Skit

This is a tad old, but honestly I just watched it again for the tenth time or so and I was still laughing. As you can tell by the skit, this came out around the time McCain announced Palin as his VP candidate. Whoever this woman is is even better than Fey. Consider that a huge endorsement from me considering the crush I have on Fey.

Girl Talk Today (Show and On Sale)

Apparently Ed and Melissa are not your friends. They actually planned on not telling you about tonight's Girl Talk show just so they could get in. Imagine that? Yeah, I'm a bit shocked too. So if you happen to see those two at Trinity College tonight do what we Brooklynites do to the cast of the Real World when we see them, throw PBR cans at them (I don't know what part of that I'm joking about).

The Trinity Tripod reported in the beginning of the month that Greg Gillis himself would be at the campus today "performing" (oh fuck yeah, I said it) at the Mill. I have no idea where that is, but go to Hartford, find Trinity and follow the drunk kids. You'll either end up at a party or the Girl Talk show, and you may not even be able to tell the difference (I kid, I kid).

Assuming they haven't sold tickets in advance, I would get there early. If you haven't heard yet, Mr. Gillis has sold out two consecutive dates (11/15, 11/16) at Terminal 5 in New York. The good news is for you New Yorkers is that a third show is still available on 11/18, but I'm not really up for getting that drunk on a Tuesday. I'm a working man, goddammit!


Tickets go on sale today at noon for the Girl Talk show at Lupo's in Rhode Island. That show isn't until November 29th, but seeing how these shows sell out I wouldn't be surprised if they were making room for a second show if necessary.

Pictures provided by Ed when Girl Talk came to Toad's Place.

September Mixtape!

It's been posted on our MySpace, so since it probably won't be posted here go ahead and friend us and get in on the action.

Don't Forget Fey is Back on SNL this Week

Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin was quite the hit two weeks ago. It seems she will be reprising the role this week on SNL. I'll be the first to admit that SNL has become somewhat irrelevant these days, but they always seem to put out great material during election years and this is no different.

In case you missed it this weekend, Fey came out of the Emmys with quite the haul for 30 Rock (Comedy Series, Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, Writing For A Comedy Series), which will premiere this season on October 30th. Also in case you missed it, the original Palin skit as well as the recent McCain skit.

The Office Returns Tonight

It seems like it's been forever since we found out Jan was pregnant and Andy's proposal to Angela put Jim's proposal to Pam on the back burner. Quite the final episode of season 4. Well, tonight at 9 p.m. EST on NBC the show is back for the season premiere and I assume a good amount of those unanswered questions will be addressed in the hour-long episode.

You can watch a handful of last season's episodes, including the full episode of the season finale here. I attempted to embed a key scene in it, so we'll see how that goes below.

Edit: It worked. Just Yahoo videos don't believe in blogs, or at least blogs with this sort of layout. So I'll just link you.

Where Brooklyn At!?

I thought this was quite appropriate for my comeback post. Apparently, a movie based on the life of Notorious BIG is set to be released early next year. It's titled Notorious and will be in theaters January 16th.

I'm not exactly sure what to think of this. The writers and director do not have any experience worth mentioning and P.Diddy is producing it. Sounds like it's going to suck. Luckily for them, the story is already written and besides huge problems in the directing, it's going to be the acting that makes or breaks this film.

Biggie is played by newcomer Jamal Woolard, which could be a good thing. You don't really want an established star playing the legend. Then we have Derek Luke, who is the lead in the new Spike Lee joint, playing Puff Daddy. Angela Basset (Akeelah and the Bee) plays Voletta Wallace, Big's mother.

Tupac had his documentary, so it's only fair that the better half of the rivalry gets his posthumous movie time. I'm looking forward to it, but will definitely have my eye out for early reviews. If it tanks then I may have to force myself to stay away. Trailer below.



PS: I realize everyone who goes here doesn't know me personally, so I should explain my first sentence. I moved to Brooklyn over the summer and that's one of the main reasons this blog sort of hit a wall. We're all back though! Certainly expect some NY news coming your way every now and then though too.

Los Campesinos' New Release set for Oct. 27

We hope it leaks earlier!

Anyways, this may be slightly late and we apologize. (Sixty-seventy new emails a day get distracting. Thanks, fall.) Los Campesinos, via Wichita Recordings, has let us know that they've got a new one, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, no singles and with limited release. Sounds sketchy, but even I'm a little excited. They say the entire package will come with a self-made DVD documentary of their weekend at Oya and SummerSonic. and a 30-page 'zine with lyrics.

They've also got a two-part tour coming up: UK tour with No Age and Times New Viking and mainland Europe with Lovvers and Sky Larkin, named Shred Yr Face and Quit Yr Jobs, Get Tattoos respectively.

SYF:

Oct. 14: Komedian, Brighton

Oct. 15: Carling Academy 2, Liverpool

Oct. 16: Irish Centre, Leeds

Oct. 17: Whelan's, Dublin

Oct. 18: School of Arts, Glasgow

Oct. 20: Electric Ballroom, London

Oct. 21: Fleece, Bristol

QYJ,GT:

Nov. 9: Botanique, Brussels

Nov. 10:Luxor, Cologne

Nov. 11: Melkweg, Amsterdam

Nov. 12: Atomic Cafe, Munich

Nov. 13: Estragon, Bologna

Nov. 14: Piper, Rome

Nov. 15: Rolling Stone, Milan

Oliver Stone Makes You Wish Last 8 Years Were a Movie

A new trailer for Oliver Stone's movie W has leaked on to the interwebs and let me say this, it might be the funniest "Based on a True Story" movie to ever hit theaters.

For those of you who don't know what's going on, Stone has created a mockumentary/comedy about our nation's 43rd president WHILE HE IS STILL IN OFFICE. From the minute or so depicted here, I am ready for a decent laugh at every red state's expense. Really: two times?

November 4th is coming up pretty quickly.

There is no YouTube version of it yet, but you can check it out here.

Remixes and New Release in Sight for Hot Chip

Hot Chip will be working with Dave Taylor, a.k.a. Switch, Mock and Toof, as well as some other producers, to put together a disc with remixes form their latest full-length, Made in the Dark.

"Dave has completed 2 mixes of 'Hold On' and we liked them both so they both feature on the package. Mock and Toof also remixed 'Hold On' and again, have been friends for a while, their label Tiny Sticks is consistently excellent and they have already featured on Death From Abroad as well as previously remixing Over and Over.

I think their mix of 'Hold On' is one of the best mixes we have ever had. Ewan Pearson takes on 'Touch Too Much' and the quality of his mix shows through pretty obviously, I think this mix will be played out by alot of people. If you don't know Ewan he has been DJing and producing for a while now and his Partial Arts moniker is particularly good in my opinion, especially the 'Trauermusik' release on Kompakt a couple of years ago.

Kollektiv Turmstrasse are one of Felix and Al's favourite groups, they have been making excellent, melodic, very funky techno for a while and whilst not being the biggest name on the scene have been consistently excellent and responsible for a lot of big DJs 'secret weapons'.

We are also putting the finishing touches to our next release, which is an EP of songs from 'Made In The Dark' featuring new contributions from Robert Wyatt, which we are very excited about."

-Joe Goddard, Hot Chip