Blogs

Koufax has a new album coming out. Why haven't we heard from Koufax lately? It's probably because bandleader Rob Suchan has been living in Praha in the Czech Republic while writing the new album, while his band mates have been at home in Lawrence, sending Rob messages like "done yet?" and "how's the coffee in Prague?" Something like that. Anyway, the new one was recorded at Black Lodge in Eudora, and it's called Strugglers, which, title-wise, is an appropriate follow up to 2005's really good and really underrated Hard Times Are In Fashion.

I'm bound to have a copy of Hard Times around here somewhere. In the meantime, check the band's 'space for the new single, "Strugglers," a jaunty, toy-keyboard-enhanced track with some slick, powerful singing from Suchan, harmonized guitars and, wow, really good production. And mark your calendar for August 10, when Koufax comes to the Record Bar with Smoking Popes.

And watch this forgotten classic video for "Isabelle" off Hard Times. Fantastic song, fantastic nudity.

From the Women Seeking Men section of the local Craigslist pages...

"Are you going to see Steve Miller and Joe Cocker on July 2nd? If so, maybe we could meet for a few drinks after the show. Send your pic and a bit about yourself..."

And if you're name is Maurice and you speak for the pompatus of love, dude, you're so in.

Yesterday, entering the Power & Light district to attend this year's Bloomsday celebration at Raglan Road, I spied with my little eye this here notice.

This controversial dress code has been in the media a lot, but I'd never actually seen it in black and white (pun) ...

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By FLANNERY CASHILL

Nevermind the recession, jump onboard Mayercraft, John Mayer's "rock cruise." Tickets go on sale today for the second annual voyage of Mayercraft, which sails from Los Angeles, CA to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and includes confirmed performers Guster.

I had some questions, but luckily they were frequently asked questions. YES, John Mayer will be onboard the whole time. YES, there will be four pools. YES, there will be 22 theme bars. YES, these will be the best four days and nights of my life. NO, John Mayer does not have a debilitating addiction to porn, that's just a rumor.

For anywhere from a mere $950 to an astronomical $4,150, you can join John Mayer as he unzips his tight jeans and wags his dick at the rest of the world. Act now; the United States implodes in about ten minutes.

by FLANNERY CASHILL

Introducing Edge of Forever, Kansas's premiere Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band. From their Myspace:

The drums, keyboard, guitars and bass guitar work have been meticuliously studied, polished and served up hot at every performance, with their stage show presentation of one 3 hr. non-stop set of everybody’s favorites with all of the stage props and the pounding southern/blues/rock pulse of Skynyrd.

Only a few artists have the audacity to play three hour concerts. Bruce Springsteen plays marathon sets, but he wrote Born to Run. Metallica can beat a dead horse for at least three hours, but they might play "Battery". Somehow this hairy, snakeskinned collection of bar-rockers has earned the right to three self-gratifying hours of Lynyrd Skynyrd nostalgia. If Springsteen can, why can't they?

In case you were wondering, Edge of Forever insist the prominent displays of Confederate flags represent "heritage not hatred". Nice try, wrong state.

Don't laugh -- John and Yoko met online. Or was that Sid and Nancy?

Anyway, here's your chance to meet the love of your life or the psycho who will jab you in an artery with a meat fork, stuff you in a blue plastic barrel with a bouquet of roses and dump you on the highway while singing wildly along with "One More Cup of Coffee for the Road" on his truck stereo.

Behold: RockNRollDating.com

There are 1,620 profiles total on this thing, so you might give it some time to grow before you go out and test your theory that no one who likes to take a bath and listen to Nick Drake can be an asshole.

Kudos to "Monster" of Belton, Missouri, who is the only person within 100 miles of Kansas City to have seet up a profile so far. His music preferences: "Lamb of God, Slipknot, pretty much everything."

Monster probably likes Chopin, too, he just, you know, blanked out when he was creating his profile.

Photo by Sarah Cass, courtesy of band's MySpace.

Springfield's own Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin made its TV debut last night on Last Call with Carson Daly. NBC.com has posted a web-exclusive performance of "Think I Wanna Die" from the band's new one, Pershing, here.

Apparently, some girls with big bubbies love Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Well, if you like the song, here, have at the audio.

MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin:
"Think I Wanna Die"

If you like busty ladies, you're on your own, but you'll definitely want to keep reading ...

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By JOHN KREICBERGS

On Monday, The Kansas City Star ran an article that detailed plans for a new addition not only to the city’s struggling 18th and Vine jazz district, but to the city’s visual landscape as well: a two-story, hunk of flashing, blinking and (hopefully) enticing metal and neon that's part of an $823,000 project "to to improve the gateway to the jazz district."

Inspired in part by the Western Auto sign that adorns the roof of the former-company-headquarters-turned-condo building, this audacious act of “landmark nouveau” would be visible from the Power and Light District as well as to people driving along the city’s eastern I-70 corridor. Per the Star article "Jazz district soon will have an eye-catching beacon":

The red, green and blue elements of the sign will illuminate in succession followed by a twinkling of white lights within the numeral 18.

Hm, maybe instead they should put up a giant NO VACANCY motel sign and leave the NO switched off for the next few years. ...

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Radiohead was totally on Conan O'Brian's show last Wednesday, and I totally forgot until just now. Thank GOD for YouTube. But still, I could have 'corded it!

The Smoking Gun recently reported in a long, investigative entry that R&B singer Akon, who has built a career on making a huge deal out of his alleged criminal past, is not as bad as he says he is.

Since the release of Akon's 2004 debut, Trouble, the singer has claimed that he did hard time in a Georgia prison for being "ringleader of a notorious car theft operation" and that he owned four chop shops frequented by celebrities and drug dealers.

The Smoking Gun reports that while Akon has been arrested a half-dozen times, he's only received one felony charge, for gun possession in New Jersey in 1998. He got three years probation for that. That same year, in suburban Atlanta, Akon was arrested for driving a stolen BMW. He was held in DeKalb County jail for several months before all charges were dropped.

Says the Gun:

Akon's invented tales appear to be part of a cynical marketing plan, but one that has met with remarkable success. Few press interviews conclude without Akon being asked about his criminal exploits and his prison days. He obliges with canned and well-rehearsed claims, false as they may be, and compares his supposed nationwide operation to those depicted in the movies "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "New Jersey Drive." And in interview after interview over the years, he always makes sure to point out the "notorious" nature of his theft ring (as if the adjective's inclusion makes him sound even more felonious). Akon repeats the phrase "notorious car theft operation" so frequently it seems like he is reading it from a sheet of talking points.

By PETER RUGG

Last Sunday, the Ginger Man and I were lured to Overland Park by the promise of a Kiss Expo. I resisted the urge to blog about it until now, when someone put up this YouTube video of former guitarist Bruce Kulick jamming with the cover band Dressed to Kill near the convention’s end. [Editor's note: Not sure that the page linked is for the same band Peter saw. As is the case with cover acts, many employ the same or similar names.]

I kept away from writing about the expo because it was one of the saddest days of my life. While this video warms my heart a little, I’m still not sure any more people should be exposed to it than the suckers who came to the Overland Park Marriott.

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By FLANNERY CASHILL

Because their fans demanded it... 14 years ago.

The New Kids on the Block, depsite being neither new nor kids, kick off their reunion tour May 16th with an appearance on The Today Show. For added nostalgia, here's some Dennis Miller standup.

George Michael's new greatest hits collection, which spans two CDs and comes with six new songs and a bunch of remastered tracks, does NOT include "I Want Your Sex." I would trade all of those new bloated duets for that one pimp-ass jam. Aw...

crap.

Bloody tracklist after the bloody jump.

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With the Wildcats out of the basketball tourney, it's now time to turn our attention to K-State football, and that means: The Goo-Goo Dolls.

This just in from the PR desk.

March 26, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LUCKY LOCAL BAND WILL OPEN FOR THE GOO GOO DOLLS AT GRIDIRON BASH!

One local band will have the chance of a lifetime…the opportunity to open for the Goo Goo Dolls as part of the Gridiron Bash!

A Battle of the Bands will determine which local band will open for the Goo Goo Dolls. The Battle is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 9 at the K- State Student Union.

Five bands will be selected to play in the Battle. Each band will play a 20-minute set. A panel of judges will select which band opens for the Goo Goo Dolls Friday, April 18 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

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By SCOTT WILSON

A year ago this week, the Police reunited for the Grammys and, the next day, webcast an open rehearsal to announce a world tour. Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers then played "Wrapped Around Your Finger" on big cash registers and laughed and laughed until handlers had to summon an ambulance for 64-year-old Summers.

Summers, now 65, survived, and the reunited trio made $143 trillion in 2007. Sting's gotta eat, so the tour has been extended. But how to keep that frisson of tension alive now that Sting's once-prickly chi is aligned with his bandmates' retirement funds — ah, invite Elvis Costello, once one of Sting's most acerbic critics. Costello and his band the Imposters are set to open for the Police at the Sprint Center on Tuesday, May 13.

When Costello and Sting were both Oscar nominees for songs each contributed to Cold Mountain four years ago, Costello told Entertainment Weekly, "Listen, I've got no problem with him [Sting]. He's a good musician. Not all of his work is to my taste, any more than I'm sure mine is to him." He then left the room and vomited in wife Diana Krall's purse.

Why the dull detente?

Both were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the same year (though Costello said the Police's performance at the ceremony was "bloody dreadful"). Both were nominated for Best Song Oscars at the same time. And both are making more money from reissues, reunions, touring and commercials than from recordings made this century. Costello's first 11 albums have been issued on CD a fourth time in the past couple of years, an occasion for which the prolific artist managed to dig up archival material somehow left off the elaborate packages put out by Rykodisc in the 1990s and by Rhino a few years later. Elvis needs a new pair of shoes.

The label that Costello most recently sold his masters to: Universal. As in Universal Music Group, owner of Interscope, the company that engulfed A&M, the Police's label (which did its own repackaging of the Police's music last year). Talk about synchronicity and meetings with so-called superiors and humiliating kicks in the crotch. Of course, the only people who should feel humiliated or ball-punched are, as usual, the fans.

Anyway, while you consider which possessions to sell in order to buy a $250 ticket (or, if you have the cash, which Pitch copy editor you want to invite), here's your daily dose of the Police (by way of Sting's solo concert doc, Bring on the Night), the superlative ode "I Burn for You," from Brimstone and Treacle, a 1982 movie in which Sting's character rapes a comatose girl. Happy Valentine's Day.