Hammer Down
Thousands of miles of blacktop and many hours of rock later after an insano whirlwhind outing to DC and New York for Perfect Panther gigs, both of which came off shockingly well according to unbiased observers and undecided voters. I’ll spare you reader the superlatives and laudatory remarks, but suffice to say it was more than worth the 30 hours spent in the "van" over four days. We played with interesting bands (Bobby Birdman, 1999, Barr, Creeping Nobodies, The Disease, Brandon Butler and a few more) in front of great people and we drank for free in DC which was madness I don’t need to assure you. Thanks to my brother and Charles for getting us on some gigs and our friends in Carroll Gardens for putting me up and keeping the vino flowing until the morning. Bacchus smiles on thee. Thanks for the borrowed keyboards and drum thrones, you know who you are. Mad love to all the friends that came out to support. I managed to see about a dozen old chums in a 24 hour period. Familiar feeling of running on caffeine, adrenaline and then beer most of the time as diet deteriorated almost as rapidly as my sense of the humor, both settled in a gutter of ironic anti-political incorrectness that’s somehow a self-preservation mode brought on by being trapped in a vehicle with the same witty but really raunchy people for days on end. Mind needs a good scrubbing. It might have been the David Cross blasting forth from the SUV’s deck, the poor nutritional options available on the highway, or the sight of the regular but not doing too well people who hang out or work in rest stop diners all melding into a bizarre but strangely accurate vision of America as a wasteland of ghastly mass-produced food, giant tinted-windowed trucks, talk radio mind-controlled right-wing zealots and zombies and just plain sad folk dying slowly while over-consuming a bunch of lousy crap. On the other hand, the colors and the foliage (there was a lot of controversy on the trip surrounding the pronunciation of foliage) were just gorgeous, northwestern New Jersey is secretly underrated and Brooklyn was still Brooklyn, as enticing and rewarding as always, everything you could want and much too much more.

Mobile Listening Station
Afghan Whigs “Gentleman” (Elektra)
I think we listened to this three times, still one of the most gorgeously bleak assessments of the state of the sexes ever put to tape, despite the weird mix which favors the intricate drums over the slide guitar magic.
The Ex (Touch 'n Go)
Schoolgirl Report (Crippled Dick Hot Wax)
David Cross “SUYFB” and the other one (Sub Pop)
One disc blows the others away but I don’t remember which. So damn good, but so damn dark.
Biggie Smalls, various
"Sock it to 'Em Soul: 60's Club Soul Classics" (warner strategic marketing)
The Coup
Noonday Underground "Self Assembly"
This Crazy Bollywood compilation that simply destroyed our brains and rebuilt them about every 45 seconds for a full hour. I gotta get more music like this. Wacked-out wah-wah guitar fighting with sweeping strings, fuzzed bass and nutty song structures blending with Indian trad instrumentation to incredible effect. Some Indian teens in College park, MD suggested this to me about five years ago and I had forgotten how amazing it is. Title TK.
DFA compilation
Led Zeppelin “How the West Was Won”
The Libertines “The Libertines” (Rough Trade)