Yes We Can!

My latest piece for the Daily Banter is now up. The subject: the fact that we've finally reached the point where a news organization just feels like it can come right out and admit that it engaged in illegal activity and -- as if that's not enough -- follow it up with an arrogant, "You're welcome."

Feel free to take a look and comment either here or at Banter.

The Daily Banter/Yes We Can!/4.6.12

Listening Post

They were a late-90s one-hit wonder, but if you live in Southern California -- or really anywhere near a beach -- this is still kind of your song.

Here's Len's Steal My Sunshine.

Happy Friday, kids.

The Palin Show

My latest piece for the Daily Banter is now up. It deals with NBC's recent, idiotic decision to allow Sarah Palin to host the Today show -- and how I didn't even need to see the thing to know exactly how it played out and the kind of thinking that went into it.

Please, you read, yes?

The Daily Banter: The Palin Show/4.4.12

Listening Post

So the new Soundgarden track seems to have been taken down by Hollywood records everyplace it's been posted -- more smart thinking on the part of proprietary-psychotic record execs. With that, we'll move on to a track sure to ignite a little healthy debate.

Macy Gray just released an entire album of covers -- some kind of expected, some not much at all. This falls into the latter category -- and to be honest I'm still not sure what I think of it.

I keep coming back, though, to the idea that it's ballsy as hell to turn a Metallica song into a kind of Bond theme.

Here's Nothing Else Matters.

Quote of the Day

"Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn't going to do anybody a lot of good, and it's not going to do any good to the chandelier. And then it turned out we didn't have a lot to put the house on, to put the chandelier in, or a building permit, and I should have known that."

-- Keith Olbermann explaining his acrimonious departure from Current TV to David Letterman last night

In case you're not picking up on the analogy, Olbermann is the ten million dollar chandelier. And this kind of thing is exactly why anyone thinking of hiring him should probably spare him or herself the trouble and just swallow a pitcher full of broken safety glass now.

As a broadcaster, Keith Olbermann is excellent -- one of the best the business has ever offered up. As a human being, he's insufferable: arrogant, petty, bitter, hypercritical and thoroughly out of his fucking mind. You hire Keith and you sign on for all of his DSM-IV-level phobias and psychological ticks, the ones which constantly need to be catered to and salved in equal parts. There's certainly an argument to be made that brilliance comes at a price -- and it's absolutely no secret that there are a plurality of idiots working in television news -- but Olbermann has proven time and time again that he can't work with anyone. He's said before that he doesn't simply burn bridges -- he burns rivers. Well, it's entirely possible that after this debacle, no one with a news operation he or she would rather not see turned into a daily melodrama will extend either to Olbermann. He'll simply never be satisfied.

Listening Post

It's definitely a good week for new music from 90s bands. The new Soundgarden single debuted on KROQ just a few minutes ago and I'll likely be able to post it tomorrow morning -- and then there's this: the damn good new song from Garbage.

Here's Blood for Poppies.

Listening Post

Sorry for the absence yesterday. My weekend was spent doing something I honestly wasn't sure I'd do again, at least not in the near future.

Put it this way: As I'm typing these words, I'm sitting on my couch with the French doors that lead to my patio wide open, letting the crisp morning air fill the room. A couple of nights ago, my girlfriend and I cracked open a bottle of champagne, toasted, and I heard two wonderful words I haven't heard in years: "Welcome home."

Here's Zero 7's Home.