The Descending Teeth
Rupert Smooth and the Sandwiches
Spandrel Addict
The Chiffon Robots

A: They don't exist ... not yet. Each tasty little moniker up there was randomly generated by way of a secret Surrealist recipe I concocted a few years ago under the influence of Andre Breton and a few bottles of porter. I've been known to impose this game on friends whenever uncomfortable silences threaten to derail an evening out. I call it "The Band Name Game". Ooh! Not bad. Yes, I'm a writer too.

Official Rules for "The Band Name Game" after this brief pause for station identification.....

I do.

I totally do.

Today I was in Death Cab's "Transatlanticism" video. Last night I was in Hold Steady's "First Night" and the Clash's "Lost in the Supermarket."

I'm a star.

Urine Therapy and the first World Conference on Urine Therapy:

The basic definition of "urine therapy" is using (your own) urine internally or externally as a way to aid or sustain your health. Urine therapy, which includes drinking, injecting, massaging with, and/or bathing in urine, is an ancient practice that is used today, not only in times of sickness, but also in times of good health for preventive health maintenance. It has been claimed to have proven helpful in a great number of varying illnesses, ranging from a simple cold and a throat-ache, to tuberculosis and asthma, from minor skin problems such as itching to major skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis and even skin cancer. – jeff lowe

Update:

1. Midstream urine should be used.

2. Urine should be sipped like tea and not drunk like water.

3. The first flow of the day is the most important.

4. When you feel mentally prepared to attempt the actual practice, collect some fresh urine and start by rubbing your hands with it.

Via United States of Michael.

"Whatever, Stevie Nicks!"

oh yeah...and beaker!

The Stranger has its very own Last.fm account, so now you can see what everyone in the office is listening to while working on the paper (or, in some cases, reading blogs instead of working on the paper).

For example, this week's issue (on stands later today), was brought to you by:

We've also been listening to the Idle Race, the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Radiohead, Thee Oh Sees, Notorious B.I.G., Big Black, Sleater-Kinney, Aqueduct, Styx, Scout Niblett... it goes on and on.

Last.fm is pretty cool. You can type in a favorite artist and it'll create a random playlist of similar artists based on what other people who like that band are also listening to. And it's free. And it has a lot of songs available for free streaming, so if you have a craving for, say, Alkaline Trio's "Cooking Wine," but you don't have that song in your iTunes, you can log on and hear it.

Visit our profile, www.last.fm/user/seattlestranger, and see what we're listening to right this very second. And if you have a last.fm account, be our friend. We'd love to share music with you.

Victoria Beckham braved the London chill in just a low-cut blazer, a pair of driving gloves and an incredibly tight pair of PVC trousers which looked like a second skin

I couldn't help myself. I had to create an account. Oh, how I've wasted my morning. This is my favorite kind of cultural anthropology. I won't post any pictures, because that might be construed as "inappropriate" or "shitty" or something, but I can post some of my favorite headlines. The best: "Nancy Seeks Her Sid." You're looking for a drug addict to (allegedly) murder you in a hotel room? Keep reaching for those stars! Other notables: "These Scars Don't Heal," "My Kiss Is As Deep As My Bite," and "im emo i like emo guys* i like razors yah um i like unicorns too." This is paydirt. I'm going to be trolling this thing all day. And I haven't even started looking at the dudes yet.

Over on Slog, I reviewed the Richard Powers reading last night at Benaroya Hall. The story that Powers read was all about music, and it featured a composer who was touring the symphony halls of the world with classic video game theme music.

It occurred to me during the reading that the best video game music of all time is the original Kid Icarus game for the original Nintendo platform. I don't play many video games, never really did, but I was totally obsessed with the soundtrack of Kid Icarus. Only the original Legend of Zelda comes anywhere near it in terms of catchiness, relative complexity, and all-around thematic satisfaction. From the title theme to the triumphant underworld score to the spooky fortress music to the reggae-like sky world music, it's just a phenomenal soundtrack.

All music links and the image come from The Kid Icarus Shrine, which is a truly weird, wonderful place.

"And you know, if I was a book I would sell/Because every curve on my body has got a story to tell."

Is this not the essence of Barthes' The Pleasure of the Text? , his "text of bliss (joissance)"? Barthes' writes: "The pleasure of the text is that moment when my body pursues its own ideas..." The curves, the words, the bliss, the skin, the text, the body, the story, the taste, the idea, the surface, the kiss, the salt. For a book to be great, for a poem to be great, there is "no need to be dressed." Why? Because "it's fresh to the flesh."

Starting May 7th, Local H will begin a 7-night stand at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen, culminating on May 13th with the release and performance of their latest studio album, 12 Angry Months (Shout!Factory). Local H will perform a different studio album, in its entirety, on each night.

Bands playing their albums from start to finish is kind of a new development in setlist advancement. Harvey Danger is doing it this week at the Triple Door, doing Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone on Thursday and King James Version and Little By Little on Friday. I saw Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation), Slint (Spiderland), and GZA (Liquid Swords) do it at Pitchfork Fest last year. Sparks are doing it with every single one of their records, for 21 days in a row in celebration for the release of their 21st record. The idea seems to originate with the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, who set up that Pitchfork Fest occasion and solicit bands especially for this type of thing--their next event is Public Enemy performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

Why is this catching on? At first glance, it seems masturbatory. "Oooh, look at you, playing all the songs you finely crafted on your brilliant album in exactly they way you originally smartly conceived of them! Aren't you, the artist, one huge motherfucking genius?" Especially with smaller bands, it can seem like someone might be getting a little ahead of themselves. Sonic Youth are huge motherfucking geniuses, but I don't think I'd say that about Local H (ahem).

This kind of formulated track list also has the potential to blow a band's wad a little too early. If you have your single as your first track, and then you play it first, it's possible that everyone will stop paying attention right after. I was afraid of this happening at the CD release for Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground's record at the Triple Door when they played "Hey Momma" first, but luckily, their album worked in this fashion--they start to jam pretty hard by the end of it, and you should definitely start with melody and end with jam.

All in all, I think it's cool, though. I'm a total record nerd, and it's kind of a wet dream to be able to note every pause, every time change, every song-to-song idiosyncracy in real time. I am also an album-order lover--the kind of person who can hardly stand shuffle. This is the only way concept album should be played (right now, I'd pay about a zillion bucks to see the Extraordinaire's Ribbons of War in this fashion, but more about that record later). It's not right for every band, but when done well, playing an album from start to finish live is the most gratifying way it can be done. And the fans fucking go nuts.

Today's news about Everclear releasing a new album brings me back to a more simple time in life. Back before high school, girlfriends, and puberty, when it all got so hectic and hard. It was 1997, so I must have been nine or ten years old when I first heard their hit song, "Father of Mine" on Kiss 106.1. That song ran my world for a solid minute, and I remember I definitely bought the album, So Much For The Afterglow, specifically to listen to it over and over again. What was it about the song that hit me so hard? I can't explain it. Even hearing it today breaks my heart a little bit. The story of a boy abandoned, given a name, only to have his neglectful father walk away and out of his life...