The Unemployment Pages

This is one of the funniest things I'’ve seen in a long time. Thanks to the son of God for making me aware of this.

Two Birthdays:
*1722 - Samuel Adams, American revolutionary leader (d. 1803)
*1934 - Wilford Brimley, American actor

Bonus: Musicians
1943 - Randy Bachman
1947 - Meat Loaf
1958 - Shaun Cassidy
1982 - Lil Wayne
1984 - Avril Lavigne

______________________________________________________________________________________
One Death:
*1967 - Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (b. 1887)

Bonus: Musicians
1921 - Engelbert Humperdinck
1986 - Cliff Burton

While browsing the internet today, I stumbled across the shittiest mixtape contest. While looking over the entries I came across a track by Wing. Now, I don’t know much about her other than she’s killing me. I can’t stop laughing! What's better, she's totally serious about all of this.

Wikipedia has written about her and has much to say, including this of her songs: “all of them (are) unencumbered by typical musical conventions like harmony, pitch and rhythm”.

Good stuff.

Check her out here and here.
Download her cover of AC/DC’s Back In Black here.

Britt Daniel, singer/guitarist for Spoon, released a cd, a cassette and a 7” EP under the name Drake Tungsten back in the mid to late ‘90’s. While these are definitely not spoon recordings, they capture Britt’s great songwriting abilities. Two of these tracks would later be re-recorded and released as spoon; Chicago At Night on Girls Can Tell and I could Be Underground on the 30-Gallon Tank single. What more can I say? Download and enjoy.

I have just received word that Negativland will be performing at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Saturday, June 10th.

I've been thinking of how to describe Negativland to those who may not have heard them before and I can't really say it any better than their bio. Here's part of what they say:

"Negativland definitely isn't a "band," though they may look like one when you see their CDs for sale in your local shopping mall. They're more like some sort of goofy yet serious European-style artist/activist collective - an unhealthy mix of John Cage, Lenny Bruce, Pink Floyd, Bruce Connor, Firesign Theatre, Abbie Hoffman, Robert Rauschenberg, 1970's German electronic music, old school punk rock attitude, surrealist performance art, your high school science teacher…and lot's more.

Over the years Negativland's "illegal" collage and appropriation based audio and visual works have touched on many things - pranks, media hoaxes, media literacy, the evolving art of collage, creative anti-corporate activism in a media saturated multi-national world, the bizarre banality of suburban existence, file sharing, intellectual property issues, wacky surrealism, evolving notions of art and ownership and law in a digital age, artistic and humorous critiques of mass media and culture, and, of course, so-called "culture jamming" (a term now thoroughly and somewhat distastefully commodified by ADBUSTERS magazine)."

Download: Negativland - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Radio Edit).mp3"

Now, go to their website and see what else they've been up to.

Who Wants False Teeth?

After having a lot of tooth pain last month, I went to the dentist to see what was going on. It turns out that I need to have a root canal. Having a root canal doesn’t really scare me; the part that scares me is that I have no way to pay for it. I’m a student and I am unemployed. This makes it very hard to have either medical or dental insurance. And really, who could come up with $1,500 at the drop of a hat?

I figured that someone would be able to set up some sort of payment plan for me where I could pay off the procedure over a few months. It turns out that the dentists who do root canals expect payment in full at the time of service.

After weeks of calling dentists, looking for someone who could help, I finally called my parent’s dentist. They said they’d be able to set me up with a payment plan since they knew my family. The only bad part is that the dentist in the office that does molar root canals just went on vacation for three weeks. So, maybe I’ll get this tooth taken care of next month.

Mo’ Money

I finally received some money for school. After a long wait, I received some Pell Grant money and was able to buy books and supplies for school. That’s really good news because it’s hard to go to school without supplies. In related news, I should be hearing about my federal student loans later this week. Wish me luck.

In Heavy Rotation

The Jealous Sound
“Kill Them With Kindness”
(www.betterlookingrecords.com)

The Jealous Sound is better that the sum of its parts. Featuring ex-members of Knapsack, Morphine, Shudder To Think, Sunday’s Best, Neither Trumpets Nor Drums and Pulley. Referred to as “The rock you must have” by Spin magazine, this album sound like equal parts Catherine Wheel, the Anniversary and Jimmy Eat World. Standout tracks include “Hope For Us”, “Anxious Arms” and “The Fold Out”. If you’re a fan of any of the bands listed above, this cd is well worth your time and money.

Let Them Eat War

On March 18, 2006, the third anniversary of the “Shock and Awe” invasion of Iraq, there will be anti-war protests worldwide. Come to the rally in San Francisco and show the government what you think of their war on Iraq.

Saturday, March 18 @ 11a.m. in San Francisco
Civic Center, at Grove and Larkin Streets (near Civic Center BART)
(www.answercoalition.org)

• Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
• A false and malicious statement or report about someone.

• A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof: “The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion” (Elizabeth Drew).
• A judgment based on special knowledge and given by an expert: a medical opinion.
• A judgment or estimation of the merit of a person or thing: has a low opinion of braggarts.
• The prevailing view: public opinion.
• formal statement by a court or other adjudicative body of the legal reasons and principles for the conclusions of the court.