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DJ Hellcat on Smilepolitely.com

Nothing personal.

More! More!

I Despise You - Q65 (mp3)

Dirty and sexy and raw! Oh my!

Oooh! Nasty! That's how I feel! I've been working my tush off for the man and the weekend is here, not to mention the W2 form, so the tax return will be coming soon and I'm ready to RELAX. I'm going on vacation. Any ideas?

In the meantime, these songs are kind of dirty, and sexy, and raw, and fit my mood just about right. Enjoy.

Q 65 - And your kind

Underground Balloon Corps. - Heart made of Soul

The Belles - Melvin

Dukes of Hamburg - Mercy Mercy

Holly Golightly - You Have Yet To Win

Feel it.

Shane Kirsch

I found my cousin Shane Kirsch (or maybe he found me) on MySpace a little ways back. Back in the day, around junior high era, we would have a blast getting secretly (maybe not-so-secretly) drunk on Christmas, sneaking downstairs and distracting the adults while one of us scored a bottle of wine and took it back up to his room. We'd listen to music together, laugh hysterically as we tried on the ridiculous crocheted slippers that Grandma would make for us (his were knee-high work boots with laces and everything, mine were mary-janes with built-in socks). We liked the same music and had the same sense of humor and we both played the saxophone. I think there might even have been one point in time when I was better than he was, but it was certainly a short period of time - if it existed. He persevered long after I quit and he went on to become quite accomplished. My saxophone (bought at a yard sale) is hanging up on the wall as musical-instrument-art, with a cowboy hat flung over the neck.
Shane Kirsch would probably be pained to hear that, considering how often he plays.
My cousin has an album out. Check it!

Here's a YouTube video of one of the tracks, 'Airborne':

Sentimental

Maybe it's the miserable weather, the inevitable demise of a holiday romance, this nasty flu, my disdain for all things red, white, and jolly this year, or maybe I just needed a few sentimental romantic love songs to add to my arsenal. The Weepies have my heart this week.

They met at his show, she was a fan of him, he was a fan of her, they spent the night after the show together and:
"...stayed up all night playing songs for each other, drinking a bottle of wine and trading an acoustic guitar back and forth in a tiny apartment,” says Talan. "That night has lasted four years so far," adds Tannen."
And they just had a baby.
C'MON.
So basically, they write love songs to each other. And they're quite sweet. And they make me sad. And happy. At the same time, just the way good love songs should and I kind of want to hate them because of my punk rock nature, but I'm also romantic and girly, so I can't hate them and here is one reason why:

The Weepies - Gotta Have You (mp3)

(go buy the album - you need: "The World Spins Madly On")

Eye Candy (that has nothing to do with Christmas)

Ahhh. Christmas is over. Now my favorite websites and blogs will go back to their regularly scheduled programs and stop posting bad music about snow and fictional characters. I prefer songs about rocking, substance abuse and women. Let's get to it, people!

While home alone for a few days over the past week, I had to get creative and discovered a few new sites that are worth mentioning. Working in the corporate world where everything is branded and follows a predetermined style that can only be deviated from by The Man, I've been looking for artistic inspiration outside of work. Trying to get back into music, art, writing, and I need to bombard myself with inspiration in order to erase the artistic monotony of corporate logos. Needless to say (I hate this phrase, if it is needless to say, then why say it?) ... so I need to clarify that I am lucky to work somewhere, however, that is very cutting edge and has an amazing design team, although much of their creative energy is squashed by the necessity to appeal to The Man and His People. It is inspiring to work with talented and creative people, but more inspiring to find things that appeal to my personal sense of style.

The Record Envelope is a little site that posts scans of vintage 45 record sleeve art. It has inspired some ideas that I plan to use to redesign The Furniture Lounge website eventually. Something a little less clunky and more fluid and simple.

Grain Edit is a little website that features design work from the 50s-70s and modern designs inspired by that period, children's books and ephemera from their private collection and a ton of archives to peruse.

Arts Not Dead (dot com) has some fantastic prints for sale, including an entire section on vintage pulp art, a great place to blow that dough that your distant relatives gave you because they really don't know you well enough to buy you the obligatory holiday gift. Of course, if you have extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to buy me something on my Amazon Wish List simply out of pure gift-giving want rather than of obligation. Smash the system!

p.s. I would be perfectly happy with just the poster of I Married A Monster From Outer Space

Last and certainly not least, Dark And Roasted (dot com) has a lovely gallery of Ladies and Robots.  What more do you need? Vintage, modern, soft, hard, metal, fleshy, robots and ladies together = crowd-pleasing good times!

the day I first listened to Tim Fite

I was poking around ANTI-Records MySpace page, assuming since they're the label of choice for one Mr. Tom Waits, they might have another artist or two I would enjoy. As usual, I was right. Tim Fite. And he was easy to find. The headshot drew me right in. I thought, this is a guy who just HAS to make good music.

He makes some damn good music.

I'm partial to:
Away From The Snakes (mp3)
You've Been Warned (mp3)
and
No Good Here (mp3)

Basically, I'm partial to his rock/bluesy folk stuff, but he also rocks the hip-hop. For a glimpse into his cross-genre hip-hop sound, Camoflage is a good place to start.

Tim Fite has a YouTube channel and a little video show called Gunshow, which is worth checking out also.

Some of my favorites include:

Episode 1

and Episode 8

The coolest thing about Tim Fite? He gives away almost all of his music! Go to www.timfite.com and you can download all of the tracks from his previous two albums and a few from his new one, Gone Ain't Gone, which you can purchase in its entirety here or here or via ITunes