Odds & ends

Every so often I wind up with a large enough collection of random interesting ephemera, and I believe it may be of interest to you guys as well. So here’s what’s perking up my brain and ears lately.

Ûž I was reading an article in the paper this morning about dyslexia, and I kept thinking of this new shirt from Busted Tees and chuckling:

Ûž As a longtime member of the Pearl Jam fanclub (and a fan of the club itself – those folks are good people), I thought this interview yesterday in the Seattle Weekly with Ten Club ringmaster Tim Bierman was an interesting read. Talk about a dream job, even with all the weirdos he no doubt has to reckon with. [via]

Ûž This may be old news to ye hardcore My Morning Jacket fans (by the way, I recently pondered the question of what, exactly, is a morning jacket? Like . . . a bathrobe?), but the Louisville reverb-rock band are releasing some demos on June 11: The At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos Package is a reissue of out-of-print material on Darla Records. Sounds cool.

Ûž Lucero had a fantastic, urgent winner of an album last year in my book with their Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers. Frontman Ben Nichols has contributed a dirty new blues track called “Dog Day Night” to the Arkansas Compilation CD (pictured left), available now from Thick Syrup Records. Sort of a Black Keys meets Thorogood-vibe. Nichols also scored the new film Shotgun Stories, written by his brother, which just rocked the Tribeca Film Fest. It was recommended to me based on my interest in Hud (and, really, anything gritty with Paul Newman).

Ûž I’ve loved author Cormac McCarthy ever since Mr. Hanford assigned me All The Pretty Horses for a 10th grade book report. McCarthy’s recent book was called No Country for Old Men [see my review here] and somehow the fact that the Coen Brothers were turning it into a film completely eluded me until recently. Here’s an unofficial trailer cut from Cannes clips:

Ûž The Onion makes me laugh again. As usual.
Kentucky DMV Introduces Game Of Chicken To Driver’s Test

Ûž The excellent repository of exclusive live indie performances Daytrotter just keeps truckin along with great music. Recently (in addition to The Broken West and Voxtrot) they had DC area musician Benjy Ferree on to perform four ace songs. I still am just not tired of the infectious “In The Countryside.” And I mean infectious in a good way — not like, say, drug-resistant TB in Denver hospitals.