Get An Exclusive Mars Volta Track

Solve the Mars Volta Puzzle to reveal the cover for their new album "The Bedlam In Goliath" which comes out on Jan. 29th and receive an exclusive Mars Volta track.

Solve the PUZZLE

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Sweet Caroline...Kennedy?

Courtesy of Idolator

At this point, "Sweet Caroline" is probably intractably associated with the Boston Red Sox (two World Series wins = they finally supplanted that scene in Beautiful Girls that forever added the "ba-ba-baaaa" to its chorus), and the wave of publicity afforded by the team's latest World Series win has prompted Neil Diamond to reveal his muse for the track: a 10-year-old Caroline Kennedy, whose hand was apparently touching hand and reaching out with .. a pony. Wait, what?

Diamond was a "young, broke songwriter" when a photo of the president's daughter in a news magazine caught his eye.

"It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony," Diamond recalled. "It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."

Years later, holed up in a hotel in Memphis, he would write the words and music in less an hour.

"It was a No. 1 record and probably is the biggest, most important song of my career, and I have to thank her for the inspiration," he said. "I'm happy to have gotten it off my chest and to have expressed it to Caroline. I thought she might be embarrassed, but she seemed to be struck by it and really, really happy."

The enduring hit recently reappeared on the singles chart, thanks in part to the Boston Red Sox. "Sweet Caroline" is played at every home game.

"I think they consider it good luck," Diamond said, adding that the Red Sox have become his favorite baseball team.
Hooray, she was touched. (Ha ha, get it?) Happy endings all around! Actually, a really happy ending for me would result from the revelation that the Red Sox are now Diamond's favorite team: Maybe this means "Caroline" will no longer get played during the eighth inning of Mets games. Sloppy seconds are so unappealing, am I right? Gander On!

If Only It Were True!

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DJ Khaled Gets Every Rapper In The Known Universe To Stand In Front Of A Green Screen.

He already had half of these guys on the remix but check out all the cameos. Even KRS One and Bushwick Bill showed up. Khaled must have some serious beats!
Gander On!

Now The Ghostwriters Are On Strike

Ghostwriters On Strike from jeff on Vimeo. Gander On!

Donda West Dies At 58.

Courtesy of MTV

Donda West, the mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State University's English department, passed away Saturday, according to a spokesman for the family. She was 58.

According to multiple sources, West was in Los Angeles and her death may have been the result of complications from a surgical procedure; Patricia Green, Dr. West's publicist, told CNN on Monday (November 12) that the surgery was cosmetic but did not provide further details.

Although widely known as the mother of Kanye, Dr. West was a noted scholar and an active college professor for 31 years; she left the profession in 2004 to assist with Kanye's career, according to her biography on the Web site of the Kanye West Foundation, an educational nonprofit of which she was chair. She was also chief executive of West Brands, the parent company of her son's businesses.

She began her teaching career in the early 1970s at Brown College in Atlanta and began working at Chicago State University in 1980, according to the site; she was also a Fulbright Scholar, among other awards. Dr. West raised Kanye in the Chicago area along with her husband, from whom she separated when Kanye was 3.

She also recently published a book dedicated to her son titled "Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star." The book and subsequent interviews have left little question about the source of Kanye's outspoken nature.

The importance and influence Dr. West had in her son's life is profound. When Kanye appeared on MTV News' "You Hear It First" in 2003, one of his first rhymes was about his mother — he dropped to his knees during the performance to get his point across. Those rhymes later turned up in a full-blown dedication to her, Late Registration's "Hey Mama."

"Hey Mama, I wanna scream so loud for you/ 'Cause I'm so proud of you/ Let me tell you what I'm about to do ... I appreciate what you allowed for me, I just want you to be proud of me."

Kanye has dropped references to his mom on all of his albums.

Kanye's love for his mom was undoubtedly reciprocated tenfold, not only did Dr. West act as in part as a co-manager, she was also his biggest cheerleader, appearing at many events throughout his career. At the Video Music Awards in September, she was in Kanye's suite at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, joining in the party and wearing the white shades celebrating his show. She also attended his 30th birthday party in New York last summer and his appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

A spokesman for Kanye West released this brief statement when contacted by MTV News.

"The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief." Gander On!

Eagles Wal-Mart Exclusive, Not So Exclusive.

Courtesy of Rolling Stone

When the Eagles announced that they would exclusively sell their new double album Long Road Out of Eden for an entire year at Wal-Mart (and their own Web site), fans across the nation — especially those in Wal-Mart-less
towns like New York City and Los Angeles — wondered how they’d get
their hands on copy without journeying to the retail giant. But then we
heard whispers that people were finding the new “exclusive” album at
small mom-and-pop record stores and, remarkably, big chains like Virgin
Megastore. We investigated these claims and discovered that the CDs are indeed being sold outside of Wal-Mart. Not only that, it didn’t
take speakeasy tactics to secure a copy; some stores were boasting the
album by the dozen in front display cases, where new releases are
usually showcased (see above, a shot from a New York City VirginMegastore boasting a price sticker of $18.99). “We’re aware of that — I’ve heard that some stores here are selling imports,” Billboard charts editor Geoff Mayfield
tells Rolling Stone. “Someone told me it was the third-best seller for
Virgin.” Gander On for the rest.

We called eight Virgin Megastores
in five different states, and discovered seven had Long Road in stock,
although none of them had the album prominently listed in their
in-store inventory directories. Of the Virgins carrying the album, most
started selling it today, one week after the album’s release, while two
said they started selling theCDs on October 30th, the same day as the “exclusive” Wal
-Mart on-sale date, with one store even “selling out” their fairly
large stock. The fact that the albums were selling out came as a
surprise, considering the CD at Virgin came with price tags ranging
from $18.99 to $24.99. While it is a double CD, the price is strikingly
higher thanWal -Mart’s tag of $11.88. When we asked one clerk why the
album was so expensive at Virgin, and whether the discs might be
imports, he whispered into the phone that he “thinks they were hard to
get.” A small record store in Nebraska told us they were re-selling
discs that were purchased atWal-Mart. The question now is, how did Virgin Megastore get their hands on the album, and did these sales contribute to the Eagles’ Billboard chart-topping 711,000 copies? Mayfield says, “SoundScan was [also] aware that this was happening. They audited the data to weed out double sales.” A comment from Virgin Megastore wasn’t available by press time. Gander On!

New Music Video - Baby Shambles - "You Talk"

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Radiohead Box Set Just In Time For Christmas...On A USB Drive?

Courtesy of Wired

Hoping to capitalize on the hubbub surrounding Radiohead's digital/box set release of In Rainbows, the band's old label, EMI, announced today that it is accepting pre-orders for a collection of all 6 albums Radiohead recorded for its Parlophone imprint: Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail To The Thief, plus the live album I Might Be Wrong. The collection will be available on December 10 to those who pre-order.

Unlike the digital version of In Rainbows, this box set has several high fixed prices depending on which format you choose: downloadable MP3 (320 Kbps, $70), a CD box set ( 7 discs, $80), or a 4GB USB drive (WAV files and artwork, $160). It's odd that the CD box set costs half as much as the USB version, despite containing the exact same musical data.

Radiohead fans might pony up $80 to give someone else the CD box set as a holiday gift, but any serious fan of the band already owns these albums. Who's going to buy a $160 USB keychain with a bunch of files they already own on it, no matter what it looks like? Gander On!

Some Remix and Cover Love For Tegan & Sara

Late last week we were sent a link to Dutch DJ Tiesto's remix of Tegan and Sarah's "Back In Your Head." You can give it a listen on Tiesto's Myspace page but unfortunately we haven't been able to find it anywhere else. We were however able to find a couple great Tegan and Sara covers. One from The Broken West and the other from your favorite tour canceling friends The White Stripes. Check the links below for the goodness.

The Broken West - "Back In Your Head"

White Stripes - "Walking With A Ghost"

Gander On!

Writers Guild Strike Doesn't Just Effect Film and Television Industry

The talk lately now that the Writers Guild of America is on strike is that most of your daily late night and other talk shows will start airing re-runs due to there being no writers to staff the shows. This effects the entertainment industry as a whole. Not only will there be no promotion for movies and television series but there will be no place for musicians promoting albums to perform. Television still can run commercials for it's shows and movies will have the previews (which these days run a good twenty minutes). What do the musicians have? If your one of five acts you may get some credit once in a while from MTV but where else? (It's sad that MTV is affected as much by this strike as network television). Musicians count on these late night shows to promote themselves, for some it's the only time they can get their music to a mass audience.

Mainstream and especially "indie" musicians will feel the effects of this in album sales. We can't count the number of times we see musicians performances youtubed and posted on music blogs around the internets. For many these performances are the only chance they get to see their favorite bands play since tours don't stop everywhere. Promotion in the music industry is a tough thing to come by unless you have a major label out there to provide the money for marketing and get you radio play. We see a sad day coming where those in the know will continue to discover great new music because they know where to look for it but those not in the know will be suck listening to the same ten songs played on MTV and radio stations all day long. We look forward to quick resolution to this strike and everyone getting back to making great entertainment again. Gander On!

Ghostface/Rakim/Brother Ali

Hip Hop Live Tour 2007 rolled into town tonight...Amazing show. Hiphop Legends with a live 10 piece band. Full Review coming soon but here are some of my first photos from the night.







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Failed Ideas In Hip-Hop

Over at The Real they've put together another great video. This time it's failed ideas in Hip-Hop. Our favorite is Swisha House Realty. Three bed, tow bath with a doorman in the front! Check the video below.

Failed Hip-Hop Ideas from jeff on Vimeo. Gander On!

New Music Video - The Killers -"Tranquilize"

If your a Killers fan then you have no doubt already heard this great song with Lou Reed. it's got us excited for their B-Sides and Rarities album "Sawdust" out on November 13th. The video goes well with the songs haunting vocals, we just can't get over Brandon Flowers' Mustache. He looks like a seventies porn star!
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A Night With The Blakes

This Friday we had the pleasure of seeing one of our favorite Seattle bands in Las Vegas, The Blakes. The guys put on a great show at Las Vegas's The Bunkhouse with Australia's Late Nite Access and local band Atlas Takes Aim. The show was great and after hearing the guys had no where to stay that night we of course invited them back to our place for some whiskey and beer. It was a great night and the Aussie's tagged along and brought even more life to the party. We wrapped up late but got up in time to catch the guys at their in store performance at Zia Records on Saturday before wishing them well on the rest of their tour. If you haven't heard or seen the Blakes you can check their tour dates below. This is one Seattle band that is definitely going places. Also be sure to check out Late Nite Access before they head back to Australia. Gander on for pictures from the evening and in store as well as tour dates for The Blakes.





The Blakes Tour Dates
Nov 5 2007 8:00P
the Echo Los Angeles, California
Nov 7 2007 9:00P
The Roxy Los Angeles, CA
Nov 9 2007 9:00P
Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge Flagstaff, AZ
Nov 10 2007 9:00P
Atomic Cantina Albuquerque, NM
Nov 11 2007 7:00P
Absolute Zero Clovis, NM
Nov 13 2007 9:00P
The Mohawk Austin, TX
Nov 14 2007 9:00P
Double Wide Dallas, TX
Nov 16 2007 8:00P
Swayze’s Marietta, GA
Nov 17 2007 5:00P
Grimey’s Nashville, TN
Nov 18 2007 9:00P
Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC
Nov 19 2007 6:00P
The Sound Garden Baltimore, MD
Nov 19 2007 9:00P
The Red & The Black Washington, DC
Nov 20 2007 9:00P
The Khyber Philadelphia, PA
Nov 21 2007 8:00P
Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, New Jersey
Nov 22 2007 9:00P
The Big Easy Portland, ME
Nov 23 2007 8:00P
Great Scott Boston, MA
Nov 24 2007 9:00P
The Knitting Factory New York, NY
Nov 26 2007 9:00P
The Silver Dollar Toronto, ONT
Nov 27 2007 6:00P
Luna Music Indianapolis, IN
Nov 28 2007 8:00P
The Pageant St. Louis, Missouri
Nov 29 2007 9:00P
Darkroom chicago, Illinois
Nov 30 2007 8:00P
Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, Iowa
Dec 1 2007 9:00P
7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN
Dec 2 2007 4:00P
Kief’s Lawrence, KS
Dec 2 2007 8:00P
Jackpot Lawrence, KS
Dec 4 2007 8:00P
The Fox Boulder, Colorado
Dec 5 2007 9:00P
The Black Sheep Colorado Springs, CO
Dec 6 2007 8:00P
Larimer Lounge Denver, Colorado
Dec 8 2007 6:00P
The Record Exchange Boise, ID
Dec 8 2007 9:00P
Neurolux Boise, ID
Dec 9 2007 9:00P
Bourbon Street Spokane, WA
Dec 12 2007 9:00P
Logan’s Victoria, BC
Dec 13 2007 9:00P
Media Club Vancouver, BC
Dec 14 2007 9:00P
Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR
Dec 15 2007 8:00P
The Old Fire House Redmond, WA
Feb 8 2008 4:00P
Bend WinterFest Bend, OR

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Album Leak - Daft Punk - Alive 2007

Download Daft Punk - "Alive 2007" Album

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Album Review - Jay-Z - American Gangster

When it comes to a Jay-Z albums in the last few years there is always a certain amount of hype surrounding it. Either he is retiring or he's coming out of retirement or in this case he saw a movie so moving that it inspired him to create and entire album named after it. Despite the new album being a giant advert for The movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington, Jay-Z has returned to his old self. There is no more Nascar and Budweiser endorsing, there's still the I'm rich part but it's not from selling records it's from selling dope. We haven't heard Jay-Z refer to kitchens, Pyrex, or bricks since we watched Streets is Watching.

The album opens with "Pray" where Jay's storytelling ability shines through painting vivid pictures of a childhood upbringing surrounded by the drug game. On "Hello Brooklyn" we get Lil' Wayne's I smoked a blunt before I tried to sing this hook voice and then smoothly transition into "No Hook" which brings back a flow style that was prevalent on Reasonable Doubt and is not seen very much on later records. The record you'll hear playing at every dope spot soon will be the anthemic "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)" a song purely dedicated to the rewards of the hustle. The next track to stand out for us is "Ignorant Shit" featuring Beanie Sigel where Jay and Beanie express their feelings on the censorship in hip hop issue that has frequented the media since Don Imus uttered a few choice words on his radio show. Nas makes an appearance on "Success" before we get to the current single "Blue Magic" and end it with an upbeat party track eponymously titled "American Gangster."

We love the new album and the one thing that really stands out to us is not the lyrics, or the themes but the horns. Nearly half of the songs use horn samples and Jay uses them to his advantage every time. They keep the mood up tempo and mold perfectly with his voice. If Jay can keep putting out records like "American Gangster" no one will be calling for his re-retirement anytime soon, so here's to hoping we don't have to wait for an American Gangster movie sequel to get another "American Gangster" like album. Gander On!

Shiny Toy Guns On Yo Gabba Gabba

The Shiny Toys Guns or in this case The Shinys perform "House Of Spooks" on our favorite kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. If you haven't seen it yet you don't know what your missing. Music and children's television have never been brought together in such a unique way. By that we mean it's absolutely ridiculous but kids love it. It's kind of rock and hip hop meat Blues Clues and Sesame Street. Check out the video below.
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Music Video - Liars - "Houseclouds"

The Liars follow up the success of their first single "Plaster Casts Of Everything" with their new video for "Houseclouds" directed by Sonny Gerasimowicz. The video finds the guys set up against a white screen with each other and in several interesting positions with some kitties. We had a hard time watching the video and not thinking of pedophiles and bestiality but the singles good and we don't have to look at the video when we're rocking out to the CD.
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Led Zeppelin Reunion Show Delayed.

Courtesy of NME

Led Zeppelin have announced that they will postpone their reunion show due to an injury to guitarist Jimmy Page's finger.

The show, which was originally scheduled for November 26 at London's 02 Arena, has been rescheduled for December 10.

Page's injury occurred last weekend, and will prevent him from playing guitar for three weeks.

"I have examined the fracture to Mr. Page's finger, and it is my opinion that with proper rest and treatment, he will be ready to resume rehearsing in three weeks' time, and thus able to perform on December 10," Page's medical specialist said in a statement.

Page added, "I am disappointed that we are forced to postpone the concert by two weeks. However, Led Zeppelin have always set very high standards for ourselves, and we feel that this postponement will enable my injury to properly heal, and permit us to perform at the level that both the band and our fans have always been accustomed to."

All tickets for the original show will be honoured at the rescheduled date.

Those who are unable to attend should request a refund at their point of purchase prior to noon (GMT) on November 14. These tickets will be offered to ballot winners selected at random from the original registrations.

The show, which also features Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Paul Rogers, Paolo Nutini, and Foreigner, is being held to raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which pays for university scholarships in the UK, US and Turke Gander On!

Vegoose - The Leftovers

We finally managed to sort through the rest of our pictures from Vegoose last weekend and there were definitely some winners. We also managed to find some video of the crazy dance party M.I.A. threw on stage. Check the video below and Gander on for some great photos.









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