Quote of the Day

"If you have guns, if you own guns mostly we would prefer you have them in a lock box. At least have them out of the reach of children."

-- Greenville, South Carolina Police Media Relations Officer Jonathan Bragg, following the death of a three-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head while playing with a real pink handgun that he thought was a toy (for obvious reasons)

Needless to say, the kid is dead.

There's an old Life in Hell strip, written by Matt Groening, that features a sign in a restaurant bathroom that reads, "Employees are encouraged by law to wash hands." I loved that surreal little touch the first time I read the comic -- and the above comment brings it right back to mind.

Really? The police would "mostly prefer it" if parents kept deadly weapons in lock boxes? Or "at least" out of reach of children?

First of all, if you buy a pink handgun you're an idiot who probably shouldn't have a gun at all since I seriously doubt you respect and fully appreciate the power of it. It's not a toy, whether you're a child or an adult. As for police preferring that guns in households with small children be locked safely away, sorry but that's not good enough. Put the fucking thing in a lock box or not only will you lose your child if he or she happens to find your weapon and play around with it -- you'll lose your freedom.

Listening Post

After 22 long years, My Bloody Valentine suddenly came out of hiding this past Saturday. The legendary band behind the undisputed masterpiece Loveless released an entire new record online and sent music fans and music critics into an orgiastic frenzy. It was always the very first punishing chords, which gave way to the unexpectedly lush, melodic first verse of Only Shallow that mesmerized me completely and would keep me a fan of MBV for more than two decades. Loveless is, as the Washington Post put it perfectly, "an album that still feels like a trip to the ocean floor -- beautiful, wondrous and crushing from all sides."

The new material doesn't grab you right out of the gate. In fact, while the band was a definite influence on Radiohead, in context a lot of it sounds like the more experimental material that followed the complex art rock/psychedelic hybrid that was the hallmark of Thom Yorke and company's late-90s sound. The Kid A to Loveless's OK Computer.

Regardless, there aren't words to describe how good it is to have My Bloody Valentine back.

Here's If I Am.

Mal-adjusted

Some of you have complained today about getting a malware warning from Google Chrome when coming to this site. I'm working on trying to figure out what it is.

So far it hasn't given me or anyone else problems so I think we're all pretty safe, but I'm checking into it.

For now, go about your business.

Necessary Roughness

Today's column for the Daily Banter is all about football and those who complain about how aggressive it is and would like to see it go away.

Here's the opening shot:

"Last week on our podcast, Bob Cesca threw out the question of whether it was a good idea for liberals to take on football and demand changes when it comes to the safety of players. He made a great point about how doping may be part of what’s creating monsters on the field so ferocious that their hits now cause permanent damage in the form of, among other things, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Certainly keeping the game as safe as possible should be a major concern football fans, players, coaches and managers, but my reaction to Bob’s overall question was that overtly screwing around with the institution of football in America was a political and cultural third rail no sane person would get near."

Read the Rest Here

Listening Post

I've made no secret in the past of my affinity for Fall Out Boy. They've spent their career drinking from the same well as all the other Chicago-area bands and artists that seem to have an uncanny knack for writing damn-near perfect pop songs (Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, Veruca Salt, etc. etc.).

This morning, after a three-and-a-half year "hiatus," Fall Out Boy announced that they're ready to reform and hit the road again. The thing is they've already reformed and have secretly recorded a new album. Which means that, as the guys on KROQ said this morning, they didn't really go on hiatus at all -- they just took three-and-a-half years to record a new record.

Here's the first single from it.

This is My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'Em Up).

Capus and Trade

You know, I have to admit that I've been watching Jeff Zucker's considerable behind-the-scenes moves at CNN with some fascination. It's pretty well established by now that I think Zucker's a narcissistic prick and a destroyer-of-worlds when it comes to television; his tenure at NBC wasn't just disastrous, it practically brought 30 Rock to its knees in terms of ratings, reputation and respectability. But since taking the reins at CNN, he's demonstrated that he might actually be interested in honoring the network's legacy by restoring it to hard-news greatness. Hiring Jake Tapper was a terrific move -- as was excising CNN's stable of highly paid pundits -- and potentially casting Chris Cuomo for an upcoming morning show shows promise. (Even the decision to possibly pair Cuomo with Erin Burnett would likely dull the latter's edges by making her little more than a pretty newsreader instead of somebody misguidedly led to believe that her opinion, forged by years of blowing Goldman Sachs partners, actually matters.)

But alas, it was only a matter of time before Zucker showed his true colors and made a change at CNN so significant that it had the potential to entirely, negatively impact the direction the network's news department will take moving forward. And so comes word from Reuters that Zucker is considering hiring NBC's departing news president, Steve Capus, and putting him in a position of authority at CNN.

First the good news: After a disastrous eight years in terms of credibility, Steve Capus is finally leaving NBC News. His greatest hits while at NBC include firing Don Imus for a relatively inconsequential on-air comment then, not long after, airing the final videotaped manifesto of Virginia Tech killer Seung Hui Cho (the message seeming to be that insulting college kids on NBC gets you fired while killing a whole bunch gets you all the time you'd like to say whatever's on your mind); agreeing to pay Paris Hilton a million dollars for a post-jail interview (before being called out for it); publicly blaming the media for all the attention NBC's calamitous handling of the Conan O'Brien-Jay Leno affair received, and generally playing Salacious Crumb to Zucker's Jabba the Hutt at just about every turn.

It's sad, though not surprising considering the current corporate media climate, that it took the Today show's plummeting ratings and instantly legendary PR clusterfuck in the wake of Ann Curry's clumsy dismissal -- oh yeah, and Capus presided over that as well -- to finally force Steve Capus out at NBC, but that's exactly what's happened. Comcast began cleaning house as soon as it took over -- in a deal that Zucker's incompetence almost cratered -- and now it looks as if the lack of favors they did themselves along the way has led to most of Zucker's team being just about gone.

The questions is, will these people now resurface at CNN?

Because, you know, they were so effective at NBC -- the once-dominant network that Zucker and company unfathomably took to number four thanks to their collective ego juggernaut.

Listening Post

I was that kid. The one whose life was changed the minute he heard AC/DC and Zeppelin, Hendrix and the Doors, Dio and Iron Maiden, Black Flag and the Pistols. My unwavering devotion to rock and roll, in all its many forms, made me the person I am today -- and because of that I stand in awe of those who play it and feel a kinship with those who appreciate it with the same zeal that I do and always have.

Last night at the Palladium in Hollywood, I got the rare opportunity to bask in the glow of two full generations of the music I love, all thanks to Dave Grohl, who put together a tribute to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California by bringing together some of the most powerful names in pop and rock history. The Sound City Players featured members of the Foo Fighters and Rage Against the Machine as well as Alain Johannes, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield, Corey Taylor, Krist Novoselic, Rick Nielsen, Lee Ving and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I got to hear BRMC play with Grohl on drums. Alain Johannes do Eleven's Reach Out. Ving do old Fear songs backed by another punk legend, Pat Smear. Rick Springfield belt his way through Jessie's Girl. Corey Taylor, Grohl, Novoselic and Nielsen do Surrender and Grohl and the great Stevie Nicks close out the evening with a version of Landslide that just about brought tears to my eyes.

Sound City was a temple to the music I love. And the Sound City Players are a reminder of why I still worship rock and roll.