So, from what we've heard, Belle and Sebastian spent a good chunk of summer in Los Angeles recording a new album, set for a release early next year. But just because we are waiting for a new full length doesn't mean that we can enjoy a shiny new track from the band. The piece in question is called "The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House," which Stuart describes on the band's journal as such:
"... we wrote a new song called The Eighth Station Of The Cross Kebab House. It's meant to be a little snapshot of pluralist utopia, a kind of 'Across The Barricades' type thing. It's a pretty true reflection of some of our impressions of our trip to Israel/Palestine earlier this year. I spent a happy lunch hour in said kebab house at the eighth station of the cross in Jerusalem."
The song appears on a War Child compilation entitled Help: A Day in the Life. The compilation, which is available for download at 99 pence per track and 9.99 pounds for the entire album (sorry, I'm not good at converting prices), features a whole slew of bands we dig including: Radiohead; Gorrillaz; Manic Street Preachers; Kaiser Chiefs; Maximo Park; Go! Team; Razorlight; Bloc Party; the Coral; Elbow and more.
The Belle and Sebastian newsletter states that, "All of the money raised by the new record will be used by War Child to provide both material and psychological support and rehabilitation to children on the edge of conflict and post-conflict societies. " In other words, funds go to assist children in war torn regions of the world.
Lyrics for "The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House" appear in the journal entry linked above.

This morning, I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about displaced musicians from New Orleans. (I don't think the article is actually in the online version, though.) Later on, I read this piece in the LA Weekly provided by the music critic from the Times-Picayune. In addition, recent posts on Pitchfork reference missing and/or displaced musicians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and emails are floating in regards to Quintron and Miss Pussycat's current situation. So, I started Googling names that I found in the Wall Street Journal piece and found this blog, which links to Preservation Hall, which is working to help New Orleans-based musicians in need.
While we're on the subject of fundraising and New Orleans and the implication of jazz therein, I posted a flyer below for a happening at El Cid on Tuesday night. The suggested donation is $10, but you can give what you wish, and it looks like a lot of the Bricktops participants will be involved. The flyer is courtesy of Cory Allegory

Franz Ferdinand is playing live Monday September 12, 2005 at Kings Cross Scala in London. Okay, so it's sort of far and sort of last minute, but even those of us in LA can tune in thanks to the old Internet thing. The show will broadcast live on Lamacq Live at Radio 1. Set time is 9:00 p.m. in the UK, so figure out the time difference and listen.

(This post has been edited because I fucked up on the Paul Weller date. Sorry.)


On September 12, 2005, Monday, Paul Weller is playing live on KCRW at 11:15 a.m. PST
You should be able to listen online and KCRW regularly archives its live sets.

Here are some other live sets to be broadcast on LA's NPR station. Note: I've only included artists who aren't overhyped crap. If you want to know who is overhyped crap, look at the full list and take a wild guess.

9/15/05
Tom Vek

9/16/05
Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
(Note: We hear that they are pretty hype in NYC, but haven't heard much from or about them out here. We are giving the band the benefit of the doubt.)

9/19/05
Rob Dickinson, aka Dude From Catherine Wheel

9/20/05
stellastarr*
(Note: Liz likes the new album a lot, mostly for the first few tracks.)

9/21/05
Jackie Greene
(Note: Liz is unfamiliar with this artist and therefore take no responsibility for urging people to listen if it is a snoozefest.)

9/22/05
The 88

Thanks to Andrea on My Space for passing these along:

Nov. 2: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Office Depot Center)
Nov. 3: St. Petersburg, Fla. (St. Pete Times Forum)
Nov. 5: Atlanta (Gwinnett Center)
Nov. 7: Houston (Toyota Center)
Nov. 8: Dallas (American Airlines Arena)
Nov. 9: San Antonio (SBC Center)
Nov. 11: Denver (Magness Arena)
Nov. 12: Salt Lake City (E Center)
Nov. 15: Vancouver (GM Place)
Nov. 16: Seattle (Key Arena)
Nov. 18: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion)
Nov. 19: San Diego (ipayone Center)
Nov. 21: Los Angeles (Staples Center)
Nov. 25: Phoenix (Glendale Arena)
Nov. 26: Las Vegas (the Joint)
Nov. 29: Chicago (Allstate Arena)
Nov. 30: Detroit (the Palace of Auburn Hills)
Dec. 1: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Dec. 3: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata)
Dec. 4: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Dec. 7: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Dec. 8: Fairfax, Va. (Patriot Center)

Bob Denver, best known as Gilligan or Maynard G. Krebs, passed away from complications due to cancer on September 2, 2005. He was 70 years old.
What many people probably don't know is that Denver graduated from a tiny all-male university known as Loyola, which evolved into Loyola Marymount University and is the school where co-conspirator Karen and I, as well as a good chunk of the PDP contributors, met. From what I heard, Denver was also a DJ at our beloved college station, KXLU, at one point. He is, perhaps, our alma mater's best known alumnus and so we salute the "little buddy."

A few days ago, I was working on a story with my colleague Sarah, who is from Germany, and she mentioned having "earworm." She explained that in German, there is a word ohrvurm, that literally means earworm but, essentially, it means that you have a song stuck in your head. This is my new favorite German word. I even like it more than schadenfreude. Just think about how much more meaning is packed into that tiny word than another tirade about "that song I have had stuck in my head for three days." The word sounds like a sneak attack and those inescapable songs feel like tiny mind wars. A perfect match.
Yesterday, I was looking flipping through a sea of reposts on My Space when I came across a post from my e-friend DJ Volitans in New York City asking for the Top 5 Best 1980s Ballads. I couldn't limit myself to five, so I posted seven. Later on that evening, I told Carlos what I had listed. Spandau Ballet's "True" was my obvious pick for the number one slot as it is the best ballad ever. Don't even try to tell me that something is better. It's not. The rest of the list came up spur of the moment: Wham! "Careless Whisper;" Cutting Crew "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight;" Duran Duran "The Chauffer;" OMD "If You Leave;" Crowded House "Don't Dream It's Over;" and Def Leppard "Headed for a Heartbreak."
"I totally forgot to list 'Somebody.'"
"Huh?"
"Depeche Mode."
Carlos was listening to hip-hop in the mid-1980s. Songs like "Somebody" or "A Question of Lust" are foreign to him.
"You forgot to mention Simply Red 'Holding Back the Years.'"
I think the last time I heard the song was while sitting in the waiting room at the dentist's office sometime during high school but now, thanks to Carlos, I had a serious case of earworm. "Holding Back the Years" played like an invasion of warrior-notes trying to break through my skull as if it were the walls of Troy. It played in my dreams, looping around the vision of some guy with really curly red hair twirling in my mind. This, dear reader, is no exaggeration.
At close to 11:00 a.m. this morning, the song finally retreated, thanks in part to KROQ's Totally 90s Weekend, or whatever it's called, which played Lush's "Ladykiller." Now I just keep thinking that I'm "hanging out in Camden, drinking with my girlfriends on a Saturday night."

It truly irritates me that there is so little to do on holiday weekends. Every night of the week, there is some event that I want to attend but cannot because I am in class or have to read a 400-page history of foreign correspondents or write an article or work on a news feature or some crap like that. Then I have a free Sunday night and what is going on? Nothing. Oh, well, there was that David Mancuso gig last night, but it was $20, which is the same amount of money that will give me slightly less than a half-tank of gas. I checked My Space and the LA Weekly and all I could find was one insipid 1980s-themed party after another. If I wanted retro, I would just stay home and watch VH1 Classic all night. At least with that option there is the chance that I could hear something that isn't "Mickey" or "Come On Feel the Noise."
That said, I ended up at Carlos' house, where we watched the entire first season of The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD. Pete and Pete was my favorite show in high school. I guess it sounds sort of weird to say that I was sixteen and watching Nickelodeon, but can you really top a show with characters so ordinary that they are bizarre? A show with guest appearances from Kate Pierson, Juliana Hatfield, Michael Stipe, Steve Buscemi AND Iggy Pop? A show with a soundtrack featuring Luscious Jackson, Drop Nineteens, Apples in Stereo and every Stephen Merritt project around at the time? Seriously, you cannot top Pete and Pete.

Check out this live performance at KCRW. The file is located in the middle of the page.