Briefly: Shadows Fall, the Explosion, Jay-Z, Ryan Adams, and your free tix to OKGo
1. Name all the faces on the cover of the Phoenix, and we'll email you a ticket to the paper's 40th b-day tonight at Avalon with OKGo. Sike, you don't have to guess the names. Just print this out and we'll see you at the club. But better get there early.
2. Shadows Fall partying with Dave Grohl. We're all for those dudes wasting as much of Atlantic's money as possible. As a rule, metal bands from Massachusetts never make back the advance. Unless they're called Godsmack.
3. Ryan Adams records rap album as "DJ Reggie." Included: battle verses ("rhymes" would be inaccurate) about P4k and Stereogum. Oh jeez. Even worse, he's streaming seven more albums' worth of crap on his website.
4. The Explosion, whose Virgin debut was DOA, are on their way back. Two new songs streaming at MySpace. The chorus of "Image of a Son" -- "Where have we gone?" -- pretty much sums up our feelings. Poppy. Polished. Nice doods, tunes don't suck, but we really thought they were destined for better things. New album coming in March 2007 on Virgin.
5. George Martin's son releases "official" Beatles mash-up sans Jay-Z. Danger Mouse, sue the bitch.
6. So, um, the Jay-Z song with Chris Martin blows. Song's like a Hallmark card. It took us three listens to figure out what Martin is singing in the chorus isn't "I hear my agent sing." Note to the CEO: MySpace references are played out. Also, how much do you think WBR paid to have Jigga shout out "My Chemical Romance" and "The Black Parade" in "Oh My God"? If you're one of the three people who hasn't downloaded this album yet, ClearChannel is streaming it.
6. Now that SFJ has come out of the closet as an admirer of Deftones, we have some confessions to make. Let's talk about Chris Daughtry's "It's Not Over." Sorry, we like this song. We also like Evanesence's "Call Me When You're Sober," for which we'd like to imagine "It's Not Over" as an answer track. Also, on a related WTF?, Ashlee Simpson likes Glassjaw. [Via B9Board]
7. Pics of the ongoing O'Brien's gutting/restoration. [Noiseboard]
8. Baseball Tavern booking shows. Let's just hope Martin doesn't lose the calendar this time. [Noiseboard]
9. New ridiculous photo of person with absurd face tattoo. This one based on the Misfits' fiend. Earth Crisis kid is off the hook. [blt]
10. Robby Roadsteamer, this is Tia's brother. The next time you drag her up on stage to read dirty poetry, we're going to kick your fucking ass. In all seriousness, we heard the Joyce reading was a blast. A Phoenix employee who shall remain nameless fell in love with Ryan Walsh. If anyone sees Ryan, tell him to aim us. Full report coming soon, Tia's photos up here.
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