Why I Oughtta

First up, I don’t know what’s going on with that plugin on the right.  It worked the first time I tried it and now it is giving me a weird error message.  I’ll take it down soon enough.

Secondly, per Stickles’ request, next week I’m going to begin a five-part daily series of Room Clearers. Each themed.

It’ll be five discs of ten songs each — all of them absolutely unlistenable.  Or listenable while acknowledging your self-hatred.  So get ready.  First thing Monday, it’ll be ready to launch.

First of all, keep submitting ideas for Room Clearers below.  I’m interested to see what you come up with.

Second, I just installed a cool widget over on the right-hand side.  It’s a little internet radio station that is “inspired” by the music I listen to.  So, if you’re as interested in me as I am in myself, you can get pre-vetted music in your earhole just by clicking to the right.

(I just updated my laptop with the latest Audioscrobbler plugin, so now it’s collecting data on what I’m listening to again.  If you want to stalk me in real time, click here.)

I’ve been thinking lately about a mix of songs that I’d like to call “Room Clearers.” Songs that are just so inherently unhip, that they just make you want to either turn the stereo off or embrace the cheese. These songs tiptoe the line between irony and unredeemable awfulness.

The secret to the Room Clearers CD is that they are painful because you probably liked them at some point, even if you lied at the time and said you didn’t. Many of these songs are generation-specific, but that’s okay.
Here’s my list so far:

• The Cranberries - Ode to My Family
• Nine Days - (Absolutely) Story of a Girl
• Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Meredith Brooks - Bitch
• Bush - Glycerine
• Goo Goo Dolls - Name
• TATU - All the Things She Said
• Third Eye Blind - Jumper

Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Lou Bega - Mambo Number Five; Bryan Adams - Everything I Do I Do It For You; Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

I just wanted to put this out there for all the non D.C. folk who probably haven’t heard of Argyle Academy. It’s a great comic strip that appears on DCist centering around a vampire cat, chatty fruit flies, and other weird/awesome characters.

To get a taste of what it’s all about, click here and here.

It’s always inspiring to see local art/creative work that is actually good.

You can visit the Web site here.

This is a public service announcement.

New rule: no more referring to people as rock stars. There’s no doubt if you’re reading my blog, then you probably aren’t famous and awesome enough to actually get away with it.

Calling someone a rock star because they were able to loan you a muffin tin just underscores the mundane nature of the accomplishment. Unless they gave it to you and did a line of coke off a hooker’s back.  That might count.

This has been a public service announcement.

If there was one album in recent memory that I thought would be un-coverable, it would be Joanna Newsom’s Ys.  If not just because of the unique nature of Newsom’s vision, but because the songs are so damned long.

Perhaps that’s why this guy Christopher Perdue decided to cover “Emily.”  At the very least, it’s interesting to see Newsom’s song interpreted in a rock format. Via Stereogum, here’s a link to the mp3.

Seabear does a live version of Arms with a wee blonde lass dancing.