The Kinks Fight for the Clissold of Old

For those of you who love the Kinks but hate posh gastro grub, this story from Earvolution will will be right up your alley:

"Ray and Dave Davies are taking issue with the new owner of The Clissold Arms, the London bar where The Kinks played their first show in 1963. In a scenario derived from their 1983 hit 'Come Dancing,' the venue's 'Kinks Corner,' a shrine including guitars, records and other souvenirs, is about to be removed to make room for an upscale eatery.

"'I would urge whoever has bought the pub to retain some reference to The Kinks so fans all over the world can retain it as a sense of 'place,'" Ray Davies reportedly pleaded. His brother Dave echoed his brother's sentiment to form a new variation of the Village Green Preservation Society. 'Why on earth can't they have their posh gastro grub and still keep a part of it for tourists, Kinks fans and the curious?' he said."

I'm going to have to side with posh gastro grub on this one, but I think the restaurant owner should at least name a sandwich after the Davies. Or maybe just have a soup of the "days."

The 10 Greatest Rap Songs of All Time

On this day in 1981, "Rapture" became the first rap song to go number one. So I thought this would be a good time to share with you my list of the 10 greatest rap songs of all time . Of course "Rapture" makes the list at number 10, but let's see what are the other nine:

• "Radio Song" by R.E.M. Baby, baby, baby this rap song is so good it's driving me crazy.
• "Kool Thing" by Sonic Youth. Let everybody know: punk rockers make good rap artists, too.
• "Roll the Bones" by Rush. Why are we here? To listen to some great Canadian rap.
• "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet. I like mine with lettuce, tomato, and rap.
• "Wham! Rap" by Wham! The first use of "street cred." (Thanks to Very Little Known Facts)
• "Funky Man" by Dee Dee King (aka Dee Dee Ramone) I told you punk rockers make good rap artists, too.
  
• "Come With Me" by Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Paige. A great blend of classic rock and old-school rap.
  
• "I Used to Be an Animal (But I'm Alright Now) by Eric Burdon. Jimmy Page's Sweater Vest says this is the best rap song ever. But I say it's...
  
• "Original Wrapper" by Lou Reed. This is the song that helped me fall in love with rap and remains the best rap song of all time.
  

Iggy Pop Channels the Big Lebowski (or Mr. Potatohead)

The Stooges did some kind of cyber Q&A concert deal. For those of you who don't know, embracing technology is Advanced, as is going solo, as is reuniting with your band, as is practicing the martial arts. So let's see what Iggy Pop has to say about his slim physique:

"He credited tai chi exercises, 'but I'm not spiritual about it.' He cryptically added: 'I had a benefactor, and when I hit about 45, he just went, 'You're either gonna be like the potato, or the dude.'"

There you have it.

Crazy Musical Scores

Dark Roasted Blend has some of the most Overt musical scores you've ever seen. Unless you think that "add bicycle" and "balance your chair on two legs" are just the workings of an Advanced Irritant.

The Jesuits Love Tom Waits

Here's something of note from Down Under:

"Even if Tom Waits's songs, which include Dragging a Dead Priest, are sung in a rasping voice that seems to have been soaked in a whisky barrel, he has won over friends in the Jesuit order. Barely a week after the Pope told of his dislike for the 'prophets of pop' and Bob Dylan in particular, the Jesuits in Rome have embraced Waits as a Christian role model.

"The latest issue of Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal whose contents are subject to Vatican approval, says Waits represents 'the marginalised and misunderstood.'

"Father Antonio Spadaro, 40, who normally writes about literature but is emerging as a Catholic authority on pop music, said Waits had lived a youthful life of 'drugs, alcohol and sex'"as an outcast on the streets of California. He therefore understood 'the lower depths'" of society and was able to convey the desperation of those on the margins. His past enabled him to express their 'capacity for hope and instinct for happiness' in 'authentic songs devoid of vanity and false illusions,' Father Spadaro said."

Will the Civilta Cattolica become the new Pitchfork?

P.S. I've been away and busy, but I hope to start posting regularly again.

Bob Is an Anagram, Weird Al Is a Genius

Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.