Giuseppe Zangara

Good episode. I'd have liked to see them go a couple of eps before bringing back Murray, but whatevah.

Re: Low, the anecdotes involving Bowie's cocaine psychoses are both hilarious and terrifying. Hilarifying. The Low and Village Green Preservation Society ones are good. The only other one I've read is for Exile on Main Street. You're not a Stones guy, Czech, so I doubt you'd read it anyway, but it's really, really bad. The writer just quotes verbatim large chunks of text from other sources, without offering much in the way of his own insight beyond "this is good" or "I agree with this." He also uses the word "sexy" like 80-something times. This book killed my desire to read more from the series.

The two-disc Push Barman to Open Old Wounds comp is also terrific. So, basically, check out everything except the two crappy albums mentioned by Kinetic.

You didn't work for WOSP Osprey Radio in the fall of 2003.

I wish Stevie got to sing on more songs. I'm totally gay for "To Be Myself Completely," and his "The Wrong Girl" was one of the few worthwhile moments on FYHCYWLAP.

It was me! It may seem odd to criticize a song by this band for being too fey, but "...Tea" and "Step..." are just unbearably coy and fruity.

Radio Station Memories: When Dear Catastrophe Waitress came out, my fellow DJs played the ever-loving shit out of "Step Into My Office, Baby." Though I like the album it came from a lot, hearing that particular song nonstop made it sort of the indie "Hey Ya," an even more popular song from around the same time that I also grew to despise. After going a year or two without hearing "Hey Ya," I managed to like it again. I still can't stand "Step Into My Office, Baby."

About two or three times a year, I put on If You're Feeling Sinister and completely fall for what's almost a perfect album. The effect is short-lived, though. I never think about it when considering my favorite albums, but when I listen to it, I wonder why I don't list it among my favorites. Belle & Sebastian has a lot of great songs, but I pick "Lazy Line Painter Jane" as the best, hands down. It never fails to leave me giddy. I love feeling giddy. That it happens so rarely makes it all the more a treat.

Nine of the 10 are on both lists, just ranked differently. Either NME were remarkably prescient or the Pitchfork editors changed it up a little after the original list was spoiled. Fleet Foxes aren't terrible. Just a little too vanilla.

I've no interest in seeing this show, but I'm going to go over there and beat you up in front of all your friends.

That top 10 is just right for Rolling Stone. They cast their net indiscriminately.

Obscure? Are TVOTR not as "well known" (please note I'm use this term loosely) in the UK as they are here? As for the second half of your post, I have no idea what that means.

It's totally by the numbers for a music publication to put Dear Science in a top 10 or 20 list. It received high enough praise in all the right circles, so of course it'll be on all the major lists. This isn't a knock on the record, by the way. I've certainly talked enough of my love for it.

NME couldn't wait (scroll down a bit):

NME couldn't wait (scroll down a bit):

More like "Bores"

Speaking of the Barron video, is this the place to mention I didn't find any of the Kinetic-made videos funny? Sorry, K-Tic, you still my man fifty-grand.

He never made it to air, because 1) I wasn't running a call-in show, and 2) the decrepit system we used then made most calls—the couple of times anyone ever tried to patch live calls through the board—sound awful. After establishing that it was me he was talking to ("This is Matt, right? The host of the show?"), he introduced himself as Jingus from TSM. I don't remember if he told me his real name.

I liked Mirrored and this song is pretty OK, but really, it has the same drum beat as "The Beautiful People." How did that not hurt its indie cred?

I'll tell you the entire thought process that went into the making and ranking of this list: "Hey, guys, let's make a list!" Then they put a playlist on shuffle.

What did you think of this? It's the one book that I keep getting too distracted by other fiction to read. It's pretty tight, if tough going at first. Not because it's "difficult"; all the characters are kind of despicable at the start. I warmed up to it eventually, and even found the ending kind of moving.

Aye. He called in to my radio show back in the day. I can't remember if I gave the station's number out on the air or he just looked it up himself. I'd say the latter, as no one called the station on a Sunday evening. Until Jingus, that is.

Just Finished: Crime and Punishment Currently Reading: Sanctuary, by William Faulkner On Deck: Already Dead, by Denis Johnson

Aren't you 14? Get out of here. If memory serves, I (and we, if you include Smartly Pretty), live in the same town as netslob. Now there's a get-together waiting to happen.

Do/did you talk about the board?