GSOTD: Through the Window Pane

By GUILLEMOTS

Woke up with a shoe in my mouth
Should I head north or south?
You got me out on the lake
And I bank all my dreams on an earthquake

And I felt love come in through my windowpane
Tripping up the high road
Tearing down the low
And I saw life chanting out the mantra
If you want it, let it go
If you want it, sow

Words can't express what it means
And yes I believe you

And I felt love coming through my windowpane
Tripping up the high road
Tearing down the low
And I saw life chant
shouting out the window
If you want it, let it go
If you want i, so...

Oh come in through my windowpane
Won't you come in through my windowpane
Come in through

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV1-o58yxrQ

GSOTD: Annie, Let's Not Wait

By GUILLEMOTS

I found something crying; it was my soul
i fed it milk so it wouldn't grow old
we crossed the borderline at dawn
and woke up in a field of corn
my father told me i was late
i better start oiling the gate
said that those that rush will fall
but i don't want to wait for waves
i don't want to wait at all

annie, let's not wait
let's cross the river now
we could sit for years
staring at our fears
oh they're such pretty things
they're so cute
but our dreams are all we really need
to grow

i found something dying; it was my light
it had resigned itself to night
so i threw it out a fishing line
and said catch your will and then catch mine

annie, let's not wait
let's cross the river now
we could sit for years
staring at our fears
oh they're such pretty things
they're so cute
but in the end they're just a suit

oh annie let's not wait
time's not on our side
well it never was
you know that deep inside
oh just look at you
with your ruffled hair
oh i love you
and that's all you need to know

annie annie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2qximPa7co

GSOTD: We're Here

Click on the link to view.

By GUILLEMOTS

The world is our carpet now
The world is our dancefloor now
Remind me how to dance again
The world is our carpet now

The world is just waiting now
No staring out windows now
Our train stopped moving hours ago
We're here, we're here, we're here

Yes we're here
Free to laugh and cry
Obliged to try
And nothing here's worth winning without a fight

When I can't move
I'll enjoy the still for a while
And lose myself in waves
And mountains and the sky
And I'm back here quick as lightning

'Cause we are just seconds
Seconds in a day

It's a dancefloor now
No staring out windows now
Our train stopped moving
Hours ago
We're here, we're here, we're here
What do I do? / ? ?

Free, free to run and cry
Obliged to try
And nothing is worth winning without a fight
Oh yes we're here
Free to go insane
Joy and pain are fighting in the corridors inside

When I can't move
I'll savour the pause for a while
And lose myself in waves
And mountains and the sky
And I'm back here quick as lightning
'Cause we are just seconds
Seconds in a day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6uV9wqpuU

GSOTD: Trains to Brazil

Click on the title to view.

By GUILLEMOTS

Aaahhhhh
aaaahhhhaaa
aaaah
You're feelin old

Its 1 o clock on a friday morning
I'm trying to keep my back from the wall
The prophets and their bombs have had another success
And i'm wondering why we bother at all

And i think of you on cold winter mornings
Darling they remind me of when we were at school
Nothing really mattered when you called out my name
In fact, nothing really mattered at all

And i think about how long it will take them to blow us away
But i won't get me down, I'm just thankful to be facing the day

Cos days don't get you far when you're gone

It's five o clock on a Friday morning
one hundred telephones shake and ring
And one of them is from someone who knew you.......

And i still think of you on cold winter mornings
Darling they'll still remind me of when we were at school
When they could never have persuaded me that lives like yours
were the hands of these eronious fools

And to those of you who moan your lives through one day to the next
Well let them take you next
Cos you live and be thankful you're here

See it could be you tomorrow next year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_aHlHc_Vb4

JOTD: The Three Stars

One day avant-garde violinist Malcolm Goldstein, US Ambassador to Spain Eduardo Aguirre, and television's Tony Danza were on a jungle vacation together when they were caught by a tribal group.

Before they were about to be executed, they pleaded to the Queen of the Tribe for mercy. She said, ''Get me something good to eat. If I like it, you will be freed.'' The three men looked at each other and agreed. They then went into the jungle to look for some food

Malcolm Goldstein was the first to come back. He came up to the altar and offered grapes. The Queen tasted one and immediately spat it out. She ordered her servants to shove the rest of the grapes up Malcolm Goldstein's ass. The servants did their duty, and left Malcolm Goldstein lying on theground screaming.

Eduardo Aguirre was the next to arrive with some yummy apples. The same thing happened to him, but curiously he laughed as the apples were shoved up his ass. Malcolm Goldstein was shocked. Here he was with grapes up his ass howling in pain, but Eduardo Aguirre had several apples in his ass and he was laughing. He asked him ''What the hell are you laughing about?''

A laughing Eduardo Aguirre replied ''Tony Danza's coming back with a watermelon.''

Guillemot Cover Art

Guillemots Posters

GAOTW: Guillemots

Guillemots (sometimes written gUiLLeMoTs) are a Brit Award nominated indie rock band formed in November 2004 by Fyfe Dangerfield.

Fyfe Dangerfield began writing songs in his native Birmingham. His early band, Senseless Prayer, recorded a session for John Peel's Radio 1 show in 1999. Dangerfield then began song writing under the name "Fyfe Dangerfield and the Accident", and in 2004 he featured alongside Misty's Big Adventure, Mike in Mono, Dreams of Tall Buildings, and X Is Greater Than Y on a promotional CD that was offered free with The Birmingham Post, called Broader Than Broad Street. He then joined old school friend, Paul 'Booby' Tooby, on his "Ragamuffin Blues but Holes in my Shoes" tour.

Dangerfield later moved to Bromsgrove, and more recently London, where he recruited the current line up. He also became a maverick music teacher for Cranbrook College.

The name of the band causes some confusion for those unaware of its meaning. It is the plural of the name of a group of seabirds (but most often meaning the Common Guillemot Uria aalge) and should be pronounced 'gillimott' (and not in a French style). The 4-piece are often joined by two saxophone and woodwind players, Alex Ward and Chris Cundy, who are known as the "Bridled Guillemots" (a real-life variation of the band's namesake).

Birds are the source of inspiration for the band not just in name. For example, their 2006 EP "From the Cliffs" continues the Guillemot theme, the bird's natural habitat being steep sea cliffs. In their myspace entry their influences are given as 'BIRDSONG first and foremost', although the only artist that all the band members have publicly stated as being an influence is Björk. Their first album features recordings of Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata and European Robin Erithacus rubecula, as well as the line 'flitting like a flycatcher', a reference to the mercurial movements of these birds, and the song "Redwings", after the thrush species of the same name.

The band are signed to Fantastic Plastic, who released their debut album in 2006, but after offers from several majors they will eventually move to Polydor.

The band ended a very successful 2005 opening for Rufus Wainwright's sold-out UK tour and began 2006 by being awarded fifth place in the BBC Sound of 2006 survey. Guillemots' debut album, Through The Windowpane was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, and was second favourite to win from the outset, but lost out to Arctic Monkeys debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

"Trains To Brazil" was promoted in September, 2006, as their fourth (second chart-eligible) single; a new version of Annie, Let's Not Wait was released as their next single, on January 15, 2007.

Guillemots have made numerous live performances since they first appeared in the music world in 2004. On the 29 June 2006 Guillemots performed a set on the Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music show and in the 6 Music Hub. They started their second full scale UK tour on October 16, 2006 in Birmingham and it ends on the 4th November in Oxford (the first took place in April/May of the same year). They are known for their live performances, which are varied every night. They often perform songs differently live to how they are performed on their recordings. The recent tour saw the live "premiere" of many of their songs, including "By the Water" (which features double-bassist Aristazabal Hawkes on vocals), and the rarely performed "Cats' Eyes" from their debut EP.

One of their most notable live performances to date came in October 2006 at the first BBC Electric Proms when the band performed 7 tracks (including four from their "Of the Night" EP) with a full orchestra, with songs transcribed and arranged for such a performance by Dangerfield himself. This included a rare (and somewhat unusual) performance of the song "Bad Boyfriend" where the entire band donned animal masks.

Support on Guillemots' tours is often varied, usually with two support acts for each show - one main support who stay with them for the majority of the tours' dates (Misty's Big Adventure in early 2006 and The Last Town Chorus for their Autumn tour), as well as a first support act, specific to the location (examples include The Courtesy Group, The Bellagios and Grace and Delete). Another common support/friend of the band is Joan As Policewoman, who the band met while performing as support for Rufus Wainwright.

Guillemots have also performed live with political songwriter Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and supported Snow Patrol at Wembley Arena in December of 2006, in a memorable performance culminating in a lightsaber duel between two roadies on stage as Dangerfield played percussion on a tray.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillemots_%28band%29

GSOTD: Baby Fratelli

Click on the link to view.

By THE FRATELLIS

She said oh my, I don't know why
I was just busy watching everyone go by
Outside the shite bar, and you're a red car
Me and your girlfriend and your sister with the big scar

I said oh Christ, I told you twice
It's just not easy going through all these things thrice
What's this I wonder, you drive a bluebird
You got no money for the petrol, that's what I heard

And it's all right, she'll be sucking fingers all night
Wearing those shoes, oh any excuse to go to the gang fight
And oh she's alright, everybody says she's uptight
Sick in the head, first in the bed
So easy to be Friday's nightmare

I said oh no, oh please just go
You got no eyelids and sweet ella loves me so
She got my number, though I can't stand her
I can't help diggin her a hope I guess I wonder
And oh it's clear, you want me dear
It would be easier if I was never here
You got the money, and I got the reason,
I'll stick around with you for just another season

And it's alright, she'll be sucking fingers all night
Wearing those shoes, oh any excuse to go to the gang fight
And oh she's alright, everybody says she's uptight
Sick in the head, first in the bed
So easy to be Friday's nightmare

She's just getting along,
So don't tell me she's yours
Oh please tell me I'm wrong again
It's all in a daze/day,
So what can you say
Just; sleep in yer shoes
With the winterbox blues
Any time you choose, Oh yeah

She said oh my, I don't know why
I was just busy watching everyone go by
Outside the shite bar, and you're a red car
Me and your girlfriend and your sister with the big scar

She said oh Christ, I told you twice
It's just not easy going through all these things thrice
What's this I wonder, you drive a bluebird
You got no money for the petrol, that's what I heard

And it's alright, she'll be sucking fingers all night
Wearing those shoes, oh any excuse to go to the gang fight
And oh she's alright, everybody says she's uptight
Sick in the head, first in the bed
So easy to be Friday's wonder

JOTD: Uncle Ted

Billy's homework assignment is to think of a true story with a moral so he goes home and thinks about it all night and finally has one.

The following day, Suzy raises her hand first and says, "My dad owns a farm and every Sunday we load the chicken eggs on the truck and drive into town to sell them at the market. Well, one Sunday we hit a big bump and all the eggs flew out of the basket and onto the road."

The teacher asks for the moral to the story. Suzy replies, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Next is Lucy. "Well, my dad owns a farm, too, and every weekend we take the chicken eggs and put them in the incubator. Last weekend only 8 of the 12 eggs hatched. The moral is, don't count your chicks before they are hatched.''

Billy is last to speak. He says, ''My uncle Ted fought in the Vietnam War. His plane was shot down over enemy territory. He jumped out before it crashed, with only a parachute, a bottle of bourbon, a machine gun, and a machete. As he floated down he drank the bottle of bourbon. Unfortunately, he landed right in the middle of 100 North Vietnamese soldiers. He shot 70 with his machine gun, but ran out of bullets so he pulled out his machete and killed 20 more. The blade broke on his machete, so he killed the last 10 with his bare hands.''

The teacher looks in shock at Billy and asks if there is possibly any moral to his story.

Billy replies, "Don't fuck with my Uncle Ted when he's been drinking.''

JOTD: I Ain't 'Fraid Of No Ghost

A very sick man is in the hospital, and on many drugs which give him bowel problems. After many false alarms, he accidentally craps himself.

Very embarrassed, he balls up the sheets and throws them out the window, where a drunk is staggering on the way home. The drunk starts flailing at the sheets, throwing his arms around wildly. A security officer runs over, hearing the commotion.

"What's going on here?"

"I don't know, officer. But I think I just beat the crap out of a ghost."

GSOTD: Flathead

Click on the title to view.

By THE FRATELLIS

Just because she feeds me well
and she made me talk dirty in a pink hotel
doesn't mean she's got eyes for
she might just want my bones you see
hey flathead dont you get mean
she's the second best killer that i have ever seen
they dont come much more sick than you
i could go on if you want me to
it's just so wrong so very nice i told you
once and you killed me twice
i saw you one time at the back of the
club chewing on glass and a ticket stub
i heard they kicked the boy till he bled
then stood and said oh my god till she said
bara bap bara ra ra bara bap bara ra ra ra...
everybody knows you're the one to call
when the girls get ugly at the back of the wall
josephine says you got a bleedin nose
so taking it with her wherever she goes
hey flathead don't check me in
well hers is a tonic and mine is a gin
they dontm come much more slick
than you i'd drive your car if you ask me to
said the boy's not right in the head
so he stood and got a kickin instead till she said
bara bap bara ra ra bara bap bara ra ra ra...

GSOTD: Creepin' Up The Backstairs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBgHzcvihg

By THE FRATELLIS

She said "I'm Rosie"
I said "I thought you were Lucy"
She said "No Rosie, I told you so"
Was here with your sister
But she's going out the back
I wanna dance and have fun y'know
Of all the shitty little places I meet you it's here
And I'm freaking out
I heard you got a brand new name
Selling Es in the dark
But hey it's nothing to shout about

Don't just say yes to tease me
Do your up most to please me
I don't mean to be sleazy
Being you can't be easy

When you're creepin' up the backstairs
Mother's nightmares
Falling in the front door
My my
Climbing in the window
Get dressed, let's go
Take your brother's car keys
Bye bye

Well I see your yellow fingers
And your crucifix bones
All covered in cellophane
Was there when your best friend said
"Sweetheart, I'm just here to get drunk again"
I wouldn't move if I was you
I wouldn't wanna caught when the lights go out
She said "You think you're so special"
I said "Sunshine I'm just just bored I'm just checkin' out"

Don't just say yes to tease me
Do your up most to please me
I don't mean to be sleazy
Being you can't be easy

When you're creepin' up the backstairs
Mother's nightmares
Falling in the front door
My my
Climbing in your window
Get dressed, let's go
Take your brother's car keys
Bye bye

Don't just say yes to tease me
Do your up most to please me
I don't mean to be sleazy
Being you can't be easy

When you're creepin' up the backstairs
Mother's nightmares
Falling in the front door
My my
Climbing in the window
Get dressed let's go
Take your brother's car keys
Bye bye

JOTD: Helen Keller's Favorite Color

What was Helen Keller's favorite color?

Corduroy

GSOTD: Chelsea Dagger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clhOnZRrmXc

By THE FRATELLIS

Well you must be a girl with shoes like that
She said you know me well
I seen you and little Steven and Joanna
Round the back of my hotel oh yeah

Someone said you was asking after me
But I know you best as a blagger
I said tell me your name is it sweet?
She said my boy it's dagger oh yeah

I was good she was hot
Stealin' everything she got
I was bold she was over the worst of it
Gave me gear thank you dear bring yer sister over here
Let her dance with me just for the hell of it

Well you must be a boy with bones like that
She said you got me wrong
I would've sold them to you
If I could've just have kept the last of my clothes on
Call me up take me down with you
When you go I could be your regular bell
And I'll dance for little steven and Joanna
Round the back of my hotel oh yeah

I was good she was hot
Stealin everything she got
I was bold she was over the worst of it
Gave me gear thank you dear bring yer sister over here
Let her dance with me just for the hell of it

Chelsea Chelsea I believe that when your dancing
Slowly sucking your sleeve
That all the boys get lonely after you leave
And it's one for the Dagger and another for the one you believe

Chelsea I believe that when your dancing
Slowly sucking your sleeve
The boys get lonely after you leave
And it's one for the Dagger and another for the one you believe

El Mozote's (Andrew's) Kick A$$ Bands of the Day (KABotD)

TV On The Radio (modern garage rock)

The Go! Team (early 80's art rock)

Kasabian (70's UK Glam rock - Eno vs. T Rex)

General And Majors (sporadic 70's power chords - Stooges vs. Sweet)

Grey Does Matter (80's alternative - Interpol vs. Sully vs. Bloc Party)

!!! (if you don't know by now....)

GSOTD: Hotel Yorba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1PS882pylw

As Covered By: THE FRATELLIS

I was watching
with one eye on the other side
I had fifteen people telling me to move
I got moving on my mind
I found shelter
In some thoughts turning wheels around
I said 39 times that I love you
to the beauty I had found

Well its 1 2 3 4
take the elevator
at the hotel yorba
I'll be glad to see you later
all they got inside is vacancy

I been thinking
of a little place down by the lake
they got a dirty little road leading up to the house
I wonder how long it will take till we're alone
sitting on the front porch of that home
stomping our feet on the wooden boards
never gonna worry about locking the door

Well its 1 2 3 4
take the elevator
at the hotel yorba
I'll be glad to see you later
all they got inside is vacancy

You'll prob'ly say I'm silly
think childish thoughts like these
but I'm so tired of acting tough
and i'm gonna do as i please
Let's get married
in a big cathedral by a priest
coz if i'm the man you love the most
you can say i do at least

And its 4 5 6 7
grab your umbrella
grab hold of me
cause I'm your favorite fella
all they got inside is vacancy

ATM: Beer League

Not a great movie...but definately worth watching. The Karate Kid should stay off the diamond as he throws like a chick and has the defensive skills of a below-average t-ball player. Artie, on the other hand, could likely handle catching/DH duties on LOS OSOS but nothing more. Now, I can't wait for the next OSOS season to begin....in April (FUCK!!!)

Reviewed By brian orndorf

Posted 01/05/07 17:53:41

"Artie Lange is a no talent fat bitch... Hi Fred..."
(Worth A Look)

"Beer League" is all about dirty, offensive jokes, button-pushing sexual situations, and cheeseball "Joisey" neighborhood references. And it's a damn funny film. Artie Lange's first stab at a leading role works because of its speed; the jokes never stop, even when they whiff. It adds up to a highly entertaining slob romp.

If you’ve followed comedian Artie Lange’s ups and downs on the Howard Stern Radio Show, you already know that he’s a slovenly, punchline-friendly, “one of the guys” guys, cursed with an addictive personality that could make Tony Montana blush. So, it’s appropriate that Lange’s leading man debut would be a motion picture about a gang of blue-collar Jersey knuckleheads who prize only one thing higher than their summer softball league: booze.

Artie DeVanzo (Artie Lange) is a 35-year-old unemployed doofus who drinks too much, can’t keep a girlfriend, and lives with his enabling mother. He spends his days with his friends (including Ralph Macchio and Seymour Cassel) in their softball league, where losing is their daily bread. When rival Mangenelli (Anthony DeSando) works out a wager to have them thrown out of the league of they can’t finish first, Artie rallies the troops and pushes his team to think victory for once in their pathetic lives…after some shots and smokes.

“Beer League” doesn’t try to pretend to be anything of quality; it simply wants to make the audience laugh. It’s a smutty comedy that throws jokes against the wall at a frightening speed, hoping at least 75% of them will stick. The good news is the laughs are there. Writers Lange and Frank Sebastiano (who also directs) keep the film as lowbrow as it can limbo, hustling racial, homophobic, and sexist jokes into the script with an unexpected amount of fearlessness. “Beer League” is not for tender ears, but more for the beer-bellied, rascally rule breaker in all of us, and most importantly, there’s a great chance something in here will make you laugh.

Sebastiano conjures up a familiar sense of summertime brotherhood; the leisurely feeling of playing ball with the guys in a neighborhood park. He doesn’t have much, if any, money to work with here, but the director manages to grab the right spirit for the film. It’s filled with hateful, raunchy material, but doled out with almost a kindness to it that lesser productions often ignore. Lange and Sebastiano are writing about their friends and communities (the New Jersey jokes fly fast and hard in this film), and that sense of place and time is conveyed rather well.

That’s not to say the film is always a laugh riot. I’m disappointed that the production is so willing to give into clichés at every turn. The last 30 minutes of the feature have Artie breaking up with his girlfriend (Cara Buono, in a nice performance), a member of the team dying, and a big game for a suspenseful closer. From the first half of the film, we know already that Lange and Sebastiano are smarter than this labored structure, and the flow of the picture is disrupted when the script stops the fun to tend to needless plotting and unreasonable grabs at sympathy. I mean, seriously, the boys even sell the old prostitute-shoots-ping-pong-balls-out-of-her-vagina bit with some freshness (her stage name is “Pitching Machine”), why claw at dated and tired formula?

“Beer League” is not a feature film that will appeal to all audiences out there, and while Artie Lange can sling a one-liner with the best of them, his acting leaves much to be desired. Still, this is a scrappy low-budget comedy that tries harder than most similar endeavors, and it has a refreshingly unique voice about it that easily overcomes the dud bits scattered throughout. For any supporter of bawdy cinema on a budget, “Beer League” could be considered something of a treat if you bring your standards all the way down.

http://efilmcritic.com/

GSOTD: Whistle for the Choir

Click on the title to view.

By THE FRATELLIS

Well it's a big big city and it's always the same
Can never be too pretty tell me you your name
Is it out of line if I were so bold to say "Would you be mine"?

Because I may be a beggar and you maybe the queen
I know I maybe on a downer am still ready to dream
Now it's 3 o'clock time it takes for you to talk

So if you're lonely why'd you say your not lonely
Oh your a silly girl, I know I hurt it so
It's just like you to come
And go you know me no you don't even know me
Your so sweet to try, oh my, you caught my eye
A girl like you's just irresistible

Well it's a big big city and the lights are all out
But it's much as I can do you know to figure you out
And I must confess, my hearts in broken pieces
And my heads a mess
And it's 4 in the morning, and I'm walking along
Beside the ghost of every drinker here who has ever done wrong
And it's you, woo hoo
That's got me going crazy for the things you do

So if your crazy I don't care you amaze me
Oh your a stupid girl, oh me, oh my, you talk
I die, you smile, you laugh, I cry
And only, a girl like you could be lonely
And it's a crying shame, if you would think the same
A boy like me's just irresistible

So if your lonely, why'd you say you're not lonely
Oh your a silly girl, I know I hurt it so
It's just like you to come and go
And know me, no you don't even know me
Your so sweet to try oh my, you caught my eye
A girl like you's just irresistible

ATM: The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Well, I finally got around to seeing this remake. I reallu liked it a ton. Robyn Hitchcok as the evil henchman holds his own.

BY ROGER EBERT / July 30, 2004

Cast & Credits

Ben Marco: Denzel Washington
Eleanor Shaw: Meryl Streep
Raymond Shaw: Liev Schreiber
Rosie: Kimberly Elise
Jocelyn Jordan: Vera Farmiga
Senator Jordan: Jon Voight
ROBYN HITCHCOCK: LAWRENCE KOTAR

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by Jonathan Demme. Written by George Axelrod, Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris. Based on the novel by Richard Condon. Running time: 130 minutes. Rated R (for violence and some language).

Corporations, not commies, are the sinister force behind Jonathan Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate," in which poor Raymond Shaw is told by a liberal senator: "You are about to become the first privately owned and operated vice president of the United States." There's a level of cynicism here that is scarier than the Red Chinese villains in John Frankenheimer's 1962 classic. It's a stretch to imagine a communist takeover of America, but the idea that corporations may be subverting the democratic process is plausible in the age of Enron.

Demme is not shy about suggesting parallels with current politics, and he borrows a neat bit of indirection from Frankenheimer: In the 1962 version, communists posed as anti-communists to drum up hysteria that could be used to subvert American freedoms. In the new version, right-wingers pose as liberals to win office while neutering the left. Meryl Streep plays Sen. Eleanor Shaw, who has sold her soul to the Manchurian Global Corp. A stage mother from hell, she pushes her son Raymond (Liev Schreiber) into the vice presidency; a timely assassination will make him president. Raymond has a chip implanted in his skull which will allow Manchurian to control him.

This plan is on track and will succeed, unless two men can make sense of their nightmares. Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) and Al Melvin (Jeffrey Wright) both fought in the Gulf War, as members of a patrol that was saved by the heroism of Sgt. Shaw -- whose Medal of Honor launched his political career. But did Shaw really save them? Marco and Melvin have fragmented nightmares of an alternate reality. Marco notes that all the patrol members use identical words to describe their experience. "I remember that it happened," Shaw confesses to Marco, "but I don't remember it happening."

Audiences of the earlier film will know that during the patrol's missing days, as Marco eventually concludes, "Somebody got into our minds with chainsaws." The brainwashing is front-loaded in Demme's version; it's revealed fairly early, perhaps because he and his writers concluded there was no use being coy about a secret that most of the audience already knows. Instead, Demme wisely conceals other secrets, leading to a wickedly different ending just when you think you know everything that will happen.

Washington plays Marco as a man with the public face of a decorated officer and the private tortures of a haunted man. After he discovers a chip under the skin of his shoulder, he desperately tries to get to Shaw to talk about their experience. At one point, Marco actually leaps upon the vice presidential candidate, rips off his shirt and tries to bite a chip out from under his skin. The Secret Service then comes to the rescue, but Shaw declines to press charges, leaving us to wonder how the news organizations cover the remarkable spectacle of a decorated veteran biting a heroic candidate. Somehow, it should be a bigger story.

Schreiber, as Shaw, has the role played by Laurence Harvey in the original, and Washington follows Frank Sinatra. Meryl Streep has the assignment of playing the alarming and incestuous Mrs. Shaw, a role for which Angela Lansbury won an Oscar nomination, while essentially stealing the movie. Streep wisely goes for oblique humor rather than straight-ahead villainy, making the character different and yet just as loathsome. Gossips have whispered for months that her performance is modeled on Sen. Hillary Clinton, but I dunno; Streep has mentioned Peggy Noonan, Condi Rice and Dick Cheney.

Making parallels like that is risky. Demme's movie has all sorts of characters on the screen who tempt us to name their real-life counterparts, but he doesn't do simplistic one-to-one parallels; instead, he allows sly contemporary references to enter the film through many characters, as when one candidate calls for "compassionate vigilance." Another bold line, by Mrs. Shaw: "The assassin always dies, baby. It's necessary for the national healing."

Frank Rich writes in the New York Times that the movie is "more partisan" than "Fahrenheit 9/11," but that requires a simpler and more translatable plot than the one I saw. Demme sticks his knife in everywhere, suggesting that the whole system and both parties have been compromised by the power of corporations. (For truly uninhibited parallelism in interpreting the movie, read Paul Krugman's July 20 N.Y. Times column "The Arabian Candidate.")

Every time I watch the original "Manchurian Candidate," I'm teased by the possibility that there may be another, deeper, level of conspiracy, one we're intended to sense without quite understanding. It involves the character of the woman named Rose or Rosie, who Marco meets on a train; she was played in 1962 by Janet Leigh and this time by Kimberly Elise. These characters materialize out of nowhere, fall instantly in love with Marco, and say inexplicable things. To accept them as simply a romantic opportunity is too easy; why would a woman fall for a complete stranger who (in the Sinatra version) is shaking so badly he can't light his cigarette and (in the Washington version) biting vice presidential candidates? She's up to something.

To compare Demme's version with Frankenheimer's is sort of irrelevant. That was then and this is now. Sinatra and Washington are both complete and self-contained and cannot be meaningfully compared. What we can say is that Demme has taken a story we thought we knew and, while making its outlines mostly recognizable, rotated it into another dimension of conspiracy. Are corporations really a threat to America's security? The rotten ones are. When you consider that the phony California electric crisis, with its great cost in lives and fortune, was an act of corporate terrorism, he has a point.

GSOTD: Henrietta

Click on the title to view.

By THE FRATELLIS

Henrietta we got no flowers for you
Just these three miserable cunts
sitting on the back seat banging on the off beat
we know you love us and you probably do
although you’re husband may cut us
he’s such an animal though everything is possible

give us a kiss and maybe we can go out
it’s hard to miss you when you follow us about
buy us some shoes and maybe take us for cola
we’ll get you there in some filthy big gondola

clean out the bank and bump off your daddy
you can come live with us among the has beens and the addicts
these are crazy times down at Costello music
you can answer the phone and talk nice anyway you choose it , come on

Dear Henrietta we’re just three lonely boys
Though the girls love us we’re so
into you incredibly we’d love to see you terribly
we’d love to hate you but we don ‘t have no choice
come be our wa ha ha ha
honey, honey three four one time once more

give us a kiss and maybe we can go out
it’s hard to miss you when you follow us about
buy us some shoes and maybe take us for cola
we’ll get you there in some filthy big gondola

clean out the bank and bump off your daddy
you can come live with us among the has beens and the addicts
these are crazy times down at Costello music
you can answer the phone and talk nice anyway you choose it , come on

clean out the bank and bump off your daddy
you can come live with us among the has beens and the addicts
these are crazy times down at Costello music
you can answer the phone and talk nice anyway you choose it , come on

Fratellis Cover Art

Fratellis Posters

GAOTW: The Fratellis

The Fratellis played their first ever gig on March 4, 2005 in the O'Henry's bar in Glasgow, and have since made their breakthrough year in 2006. The Fratellis EP was released April 3, 2006, featuring the tracks "Creepin' Up The Backstairs", "Stacie Anne" and "The Gutterati?". Due to its limited availability, copies can now be found reaching more than £30 on eBay.

Different sources tell of different origins of the band's name. Some claim it derives from the 1985 movie The Goonies; however, the band denied this live on air on BBC Radio 2's Jonathan Ross Show on 9 September 2006. Others tell of the band forming from a four-piece band who would play at weddings. However in a interview in The Sun newspaper, it would appear that the name is taken from bassist Barry, whose original surname is Fratelli, the other members of the band simply adopted that pseudonym. The word "fratelli" in Italian means "brothers". According to Top of the Pops, the band met after placing ads in the same record shop. NME ran a two page feature on The Fratellis in the August 10, 2006 issue proclaiming them "the best new bum band in Britain".

They have also claimed to have met while they were working on a fairground. "That sounds a lot more romantic than it actually is," admits Jon. "It was a travelling fairground that didn't travel very far because it was always breaking down. It was a bit like touring - you'd go to one place, set it up, pack it all away at the end of the week and go elsewhere. It was good for a while, then we all fancied being rock stars instead."

On 14th February 2007 they won the Best British Breakthrough Act, voted for by Radio One listeners, at the 2007 Brit Awards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fratellis

GSOTD: Alison

Click on the title to view.

By ELVIS COSTELLO with little help from the GREEN DAY DUDE

Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl.
And with the way you look I understand
that you were not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress.
I'm not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticky valentines,
'cause I don't know if you are loving some body.
I only know it isn't mine.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

Well I see you've got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying
in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
Bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
'cause I can't stand to see you this way.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
My aim is true.

Lincoln Avenue Lisa Mixes

The newest addition to our CD of the month club sent me these two gems she recently threw together. If this is any indication of what's to come, everyone else will have to step it up!!!

Tom Jones' Gay Message of the Day

POSITIVE VS NEGATIVE

"To win without risk is to triumph without glory."
"Frame your desires and goals in positive terms. Don't live by failure avoidance; live by success encounters."
"There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
"People try to rain on your parade, because they have no parade of their own."

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood.
It's always the rug you've been sweeping things under that gets pulled out from under you.

Bert's Slacker Compilation (Should be Mailed this weekend)

Ramones - Pinhead
5, 6, 7, 8's - Woo Hoo
The Smith's - How Soon is Now
Urge Overkill - Girl You'll be a Woman Soon
Metallica - Turn the Page
Beastie Boys - Egg Man
Jane's Addiction - Shop - Live Version
KMFDM - Adios
Alice in Chains - Got me Wrong
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
The Doors - Heroin
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
Norah Jones - What Am I To You?
Weezer - Island in the Sun
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
Rob Zombie - Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red, Kroovy)

Sorry it took so long - been a different life with the kid around

January Compilation: WJFM Style

Tom Jones put together another solid mix of songs on his January collection - although it's a little heavier than some past compilations. Highlights for me include Carlin's Seven Words and the Presidents. Bec and I saw them at the Clubhouse a year or so - it was one of the better shows I've seen in some time.

GSOTD: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Click on the title to view.

By ELVIS COSTELLO - Written by NICK LOWE

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There's one thing I wanna know:
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?


So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

'Cause each time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding?

JOTD: Share and Share Alike

An elderly couple walk into a fast food restaurant. They order one hamburger, one order of fries and one drink.

The old man unwraps the plain hamburger and carefully cuts it in half. He places one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counts out the fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placing one pile in front of his wife. He takes a sip of the drink, his wife takes a sip and then sets the cup down between them. As he begins to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them keep looking over and whispering "That poor old couple - all they can afford is one meal for the two of them."

As the man begins to eat his fries a young man comes to the table. He politely offers to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man replies that they're just fine - they're just used to sharing everything.

The surrounding people noticed the little old lady hadn't eaten a bite. She sits there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.

Again the young man comes over and begs them to let him buy another meal for them.

This time the old woman says "No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything."

As the old man finishes and was wipes his face neatly with the napkin,the young man again comes over to the little old lady who had yet to eata single bite of food and asks "May I ask what is it you are waiting for?"

The old woman answers... "THE TEETH."

GSOTD: No Dancing

Click on the title to view.

By ELVIS COSTELLO

Oh I know that she
has mad a fool of him,
like girls have done so many nights before,
time and time again.
Life is so strange.
I don't know why,
but somebody,
somebody has to cry.
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home.

No dancing,
there's gonna be no dancing,
there's gonna be no dancing on my own.

Now he's telling her
every little thing he's done;
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks.
Now he's read every one.
He's such a drag.
He's not insane.
It's just that everybody
has to feel his pain.
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home.

He's getting down on his knees.
He finds that her brother's not so easy to please,
After all, his nights were just a paper striptease.
She's caught it like some disease.
If he says no dancing,
there's gonna be no dancing on my own.

She can't even speak to him.
He can't face her now.
He says "Even though I wanna shake your hand,
all I ever do is bow.
so know you see
how can it be?
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home.

No dancing,
there's gonna be no dancing,
there's gonna be no dancing on my own

Kick Ass Song Of The Day

"Hey Deanie" by Shaun Cassidy

Or

"The Cisco Kid" by WAR

Don't fight it, you know it to be true...

Blue Man Group in Phoenix

Brought Bec to see Blue Man Group for our anniversary. Really fantastic show. I'd see them again in a heartbeat.

GSOTD: Watching The Detectives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxfWuneXWhY

By ELVIS COSTELLO

Nice girls not one with a defect,
cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct.
Red dogs under illegal legs.
She looks so good that he gets down and begs.

She is watching the detectives.
"ooh, he's so cute!"
She is watching the detectives
when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
They beat him up until the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.

Long shot of that jumping sign,
Visible shivers running down my spine.
Cut the baby taking off her clothes.
Close-up of the sign that says,"We never close"
You snatch a tune and match a cigarette,
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake.

chorus

You think you're alone until you realize you're in it.
Now fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit.
They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit.
Someone's scratching at the window. I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance.
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay,
it only took my little fingers to blow you away.

Just like watching the detectives.
Don't get cute!"
It's just like watching the detectives.
I get so angry when the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.
Watching the detectives.
It's just like watching the detectives.

JOTD: Leopard vs. Poodle

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her poodle along for company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a hungry-looking leopard heading rapidly in his direction.

The poodle thinks, "Oh, oh!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back so you can watch me chew that poodle to bits!"

Now, the poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and waits until they get just close enough to hear.

"Where's that damn monkey?" the poodle says, "I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"

GSOTD: Accidents Will Happen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INHzCNOXQkU

By ELVIS COSTELLO

Oh I just don't know where to begin
Though he says he'll wait forever
It's now or never
But she keeps him hanging on
The silly champion
She says she can't go home
Without a chaperone

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
you used to be a victim
Now you're not the only one

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
I don't want to hear it
'Cause I know what I've done

There's so many fish in the sea
That only rise up in the sweat and smoke like mercury
But they keep you hanging on
They say you're so young
Your mind is made up but your mouth is well undone

(Chorus)

And it's the damage that we do
And never know
It's the words that we don't say
That scare me so

There's so many people to see
So many people you can check up on
And add to your collection
But they keep you hanging on
Until you're well hung
Your mouth is made up but your mind is well undone

(Chorus)
I don't wanna hear it cause I know what i've, I know what I've, I know what I've done
I know, I know, (repeat) X 16

ICONZ: How You Doin'?

Well, by now everyone should have received JONES' January "WJMF Style" compilation. I talked to BERT last week who promised, not only his SLACKER December mix but his IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CELEBRATE X-MAS collection. BEZERKER DAN also has a Christmas Mix which he vows to have in our hands by Arbor Day http://www.arbor-day.net/.

Anyway, DARLING NIKKI is putting together her February Mix....which should be out shortly.

We also have a new member to the mix. Welcome LINCOLN AVE LISA who is replacing FISH-A-PALOOZA who has yet to produce a single mix.

The remaining schedule for 2007 is listed below:

Feb 07 - Darling Nikki
Mar 07 - Sevchik
Apr 07 - Guntarski
May 07 - Emmet
Jun 07 - Love Pickle
Jul 07 - Berzerker Dan
Aug 07 - Lincoln Ave Lisa
Sep 07 - Hanna Barbera
Oct 07 - High Life
Nov 07 - Ana "No Mas" Frias
Dec 07 - CC
Jan 08 - Handiman

JOTD: The Naming of Canada

Three explorers were hiking through a vast forest that would eventually become Canada.

"You know," said the first explorer, "we should name this vast forest we're hiking through."

"I know," said the second explorer. "We'll each pick a letter and then make a name out of that."

"Good idea," said the third explorer. "You go first."

"Okay," said the first explorer. "C, ay."

"My turn," said the second explorer. "N, ay."

Unfortunately, before the third explorer could choose a letter, a bear jumped out of the trees and killed and ate all three explorers. Eventually, some guy came along and named the country after his aunt.

GSOTD: Pump It Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbhIzN9-p0

I've been on tenterhooks
ending in dirty looks,
list'ning to the Muzak,
thinking 'bout this 'n' that.
She said that's that.
I don't wanna chitter-chat.
Turn it down a little bit
or turn it down flat.

Pump it up when you don't really need it.
Pump it up until you can feel it.

Down in the pleasure centre,
hell bent or heaven sent,
listen to the propaganda,
listen to the latest slander.
There's nothing underhand
that she wouldn't understand.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

She's been a bad girl.
She's like a chemical.
Though you try to stop it,
she's like a narcotic.
You wanna torture her.
You wanna talk to her.
All the things you bought for her,
putting up your temperature.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

Out in the fashion show,
down in the bargain bin,
you put your passion out
under the pressure pin.
Fall into submission,
hit-and-run transmission.
No use wishing now for any other sin.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

JOTD: The Eternal Optimist

Three friends had a good friend named Joe and he was, naturally, an eternal optimist. At every bad situation he would always say ''It could have been worse.'' His friends hated that quality about him, so they came up with a story so horrible that not even Joe could come up with a bright side.

So the next day, only two of his friends showed up for a golf date.

Joe asked, ''Where's Gary?''

And one of his friends said, ''Didn't you hear? Yesterday, Gary found his wife in bed with another man, shot them both, and then turned the gun on himself.''

Joe says,''Well it could have been worse.''

Both his friends said, ''How in hell could it be worse? Your best friend just killed himself!''

Joe says, ''If it had happened two days ago, I'd be dead now!''

GSOTD: Veronica (SNL)

Click on the title to view.

By ELVIS COSTELLO

(McManus/McCartney)

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I would have sworn
That her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
And a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure
If her name is Veronica

CHORUS:
Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica

Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at the door,
Reaching out for Veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name out loud again

CHORUS

Veronica sits in her favourite chair
And she sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
And if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her own,
And a devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like,
But my name is Veronica"

CHORUS

Costello Posters

Costello Cover Art

Fuck! I didn't realize how prolific Costello has been. I don't even have half of these.