KINGS OF LEON. Bought this the other day at the Virgin Megastore (Val’s attempt to cheer me up on a pretty bleak day) and I am in LOVE with it. Three brothers and their cousin, raised by a touring Pentecostal evangelist, tear it up in an old-fashioned rock ‘n roll style. I’ve seen it called “Southern rock”, and that’s there (see the Allman Brothers Band, CCR, the films of Cameron Crowe), but there’s a great vibe running through it that feels more like the more recent back-to-basics feel of the Strokes/Hives/White Stripes/Coral/Music crowd. Rolling Stone loves them; Pitchfork thinks they’re treading water; see the video for “Molly’s Chambers” (in Real Audio format).

A good friend of mine has a really wonderful interview with Harvey Pekar, creator of the comic book AMERICAN SPLENDOR and the subject of the semi-biographical movie of the same name.

Yes, I know it’s at Ain’t It Cool News. Trust me when I say it’s worth a look.

http://cosmo7.com/safety/safetyriaa.jpg

Rude and more than a little tasteless, but I laughed. Not really worksafe (unless your coworkers enjoy crude foul-mouthed parody.)

The separation fence that Israel is building in the West Bank has also emerged as a key sticking point between the two sides.

The barrier — which aims to block Palestinian attackers from reaching Israel — also drives deep into the West Bank to separate Jewish settlements from Palestinian areas, and Palestinians consider it an expropriation of their land.

Qalqiliya, which reaches up to the so-called Green Line dividing the West Bank from Israel, is surrounded on three sides by walls and fences, with prison-like watchtowers manned with Israeli soldiers rising up over the town, and it has become a focal point of Palestinian protest against the barrier.

“The wall is in complete contradiction of our interests. We are living inside of a prison,” Qalqiliya Mayor Marouf Zahran said during Thursday’s demonstration.

A single road to the east, along a corridor about a mile wide, is the town’s only entry and exit route to the rest of the West Bank.

The barrier cuts off the city from 32 villages in the area — as well as from Israel to the west and Jewish settlements to the north and south — leading to the closing in recent years of some 600 businesses in Qalqiliya, officials say.

***

… what the HELL?

Flaming Lips/Blues Clues Collaboration Due Soon

…But sweet Mary and Joseph, the Flaming Lips have got to be indulging in too many Christmas trips to Mars, because when I read they’d be teaming with the guy from Blues Clues I truly flipped a lid. Well, I guess it was a proverbial lid, but still, I didn’t trust any of my five senses after the Pitchfork announcement. Even tactile was in jeopardy! Since first reading about the project last year I sorta hoped it might have been quietly swept under an oversized Teletubbie-shaped rug or something, but it seems the Lips/Blues Clues collaboration now has a tracklist and a release date.

Birthing this August 12th on PIAS, Steve Burns’ Songs for Dustmites was produced by Lips soundsmith Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios and engineered by Lips bassist Michael Ivins. Lips drummer Steve Drozd plays on many of the songs as well. As for Wayne Coyne himself… well sir, Mr. Coyne does not appear on Songs for Dustmites. However, according to the administrator of the Blues Clues web page (my homepage, I’ll have you know), the pair have ‘hung out’ and Burns may appear in the Lips’ upcoming Christmas movie. Burns’ website also contains a bevy of information, both nonsensical and practical, about the album, how he scores chicks and squirrels. You can even stream the songs in their entirety…

.: Steve Burns: www.steveswebpage.com

.: David Fridmann: www.netsync.net/users/fridmann

Nice spin on this one.

Bush Adds to List of Folksy Sayings

WASHINGTON – President Bush, known for being plainspoken and having a folksy way with words and phrases, has added to the growing list of what are known as “Bush-isms.”

…Some might say the response was classic Bush, delivered by a chief executive who for the most part favors sweet, simple and to-the-point replies over lengthy, more flowery prose.

“I think he’s a person that thinks that words oftentimes get in the way of communication, rather than in assistance to it,” said Roderick Hart, who teaches communication and government at the University of Texas at Austin, in Bush’s home state.

“He’s a person who believes in direct, no-nonsense chatter,” Hart added.

***

Whereas the rest of us believe in language that communicates ideas rather than random funny noises.

I will admit that I have mocked President Bush before because he’s fumbled more than few opportunities for public speaking. To some extent, I sympathize — I know what it’s like to trip over your own tongue on occasion. However: this is embarrassing. I don’t ask for much in our public officials, but I do ask that when you address the American public that you, y’know, try to make yourself coherent. And I certainly think that you should address the problem, rather than spin it off as “folksy”, which this Administration seems content to do.

Found at Warren’s first, though I would have come across this this afternoon, anyway:

Bush Shuns Calls to Legalize Gay Marriage

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Wednesday he has government lawyers working on a law that would define marriage as a union between a woman and a man, casting aside calls to legalize gay marriages.

“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and I believe we ought to codify that one way or the other and we have lawyers looking at the best way to do that,” the president said a wide-ranging news conference at the White House Rose Garden.

Bush also urged, however, that America remain a “welcoming country” — not polarized on the issue of homosexuality.

“I am mindful that we’re all sinners and I caution those who may try to take a speck out of the neighbor’s eye when they got a log in their own,” the president said. “I think it is important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts.”

***

I don’t really care where you come down on the issue itself, but let’s be completely honest here: does this sound like something you really, really want legislators and/or lawyers (like me!) deciding for you?

Also: if someone could explain that last quote from the Prez above for me, I’d surely appreciate it. I understand that those are all English words, but they don’t really mean anything when they’re put in that order — a common problem, I’ve found, in trying to figure out the current Administration.