There's A Rumor Goin' On!

Okay, this is a pretty huge VCR alert (if it actually happens, that is). A little birdie that calls itself the Washington Post has told me of a possible Sly & The Family Stone reunion during the 2006 Grammy Awards on February 8th! Already scheduled is an all-star tribute to Sly & the Family Stone featuring John Legend, Maroon 5, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, among others, performing a medley of Sly classics. In my opinion, even Sly at his worst is better than any of these people at their best; there's no way that Sly could be made to look bad in this sort of company. Hell, Sly not showing up (as was his habit during the majority of his performing career) is more entertaining than these people on a good night.

Either way, if the alleged reunion happens, it will not only be the first public appearance for Sly since being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, it will also be the first time that the original lineup (including Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, Gregg Errico, Jerry Martini, Rose Stone and Freddie Stone) has performed since 1971. This is potentially HUGE!

-Sly Stone's Surprise [Washington Post]

Oprah: Out Of The Frey-ing Pan?

You know, Oprah, I don't mind you ripping into James Frey, he certainly had it coming. But when you yell at my close personal friend, Nan Talese, YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE, SISTER! How dare you lecture her about it being her responsibility to categorize Frey's book as either a novel or a memoir? Who are we kidding? Ask yourself one question: who sells more books, you or Doubleday? The answer is obvious. I think you had every bit of a responsibility to your audience to fact check this yourself. You certainly have the staff. Someone drove all of those damn free cars you give away like candy to strangers!

That's all I have to say. I wish you well in your future endeavors. I have no more mock outrage to give.

- Oprah Winfrey: 'I Feel Duped' [NewsMax]

The Baked Ziti Radio Hour: Episodes 21 & 22

They said it couldn't be done. They said they would find ways to stop us. They told us milk and red meat were good for us, too. Are we gonna let them dictate our entire lives? Well, are we? No, says I! We will fight back hard in our own back yards. We'll make them ingest the very poison masquerading as "radio" by creating a program so foul, so utterly vile that - and this I promise - no one will never think quite the same way about radio again.

And I hope that's a good thing.

Download the episodes here:

Episode 21
Episode 22

Conspriacy Theory Minute: Osama Bin Laden

Here's something that occurred to me recently: Osama Bin Laden has an amazing habit of appearing suddenly whenever President Bush's approval ratings drop, and/or he does something extremely unpopular like, say, monitoring citizens' private functions without a warrant.

Last week just like clockwork, Bin Laden magically appeared again spewing hatred toward our country. He also offered a "long-term truce" if Washington withdrew its military presence from Iraq and Afghanistan. "We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business," Scott McClellan cleverly retorted.

Even if Osama is alive, which is somewhat unlikely - the message could easily have been from anybody; it sounded little like bin Laden's previous messages - my feeling is that Osama has little or no influence over al-Qaida or anyone else. To quote USA Today, "The tape raised an interesting, and increasingly perplexing, question: What power, exactly, does the terrorist leader, who is likely living much as a cornered animal, have?"

The timing of this message is very convenient for the Bush administration with the impending appointment of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and Bush's defense of his current Domestic Spy Program. Our current government is able to implement laws which revoke most of our rights when the nation is gripped with fear. Mark my words: Bush will more than get away with monitoring the lives of ordinary citizens, as well as overtunring Rowe v. Wade, so long as people believe that we are under constant threat of annihilation. Is this "new message" merely a diversion?

Look at how much help bin Laden's speech has been to the right-wing media.

Just sayin'.

Wilson Pickett Dead At 64

Well, this is a major bummer announcement, friends. Wilson Pickett, one of the greatest singers ever to grace our humble planet, is dead of a heart attack, aged 64.

Pickett first achieved national fame with a song co-written with guitarist Steve Cropper at the Lorraine Motel called "In The Midnight Hour." He cut this song, plus "634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)" and "Don't Fight It" with Booker T. & The MGs at Stax Records in Memphis, TN. He recorded his subsequent classics at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, AL with an all-caucasian backing band (almost unheard of in 1965) consisting of Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Eddie Hinton, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson and Spooner Oldham. These included "Land Of 1000 Dances," "Funky Broadway," "Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do)" and my personal favorite, "Mustang Sally."

In 2003, I had a golden opportunity to see a concert at the Odeon Theater in Memphis commemorating the opening of the Stax Museum. Scheduled to appear was Mr. Pickett, who cancelled at the last minute due to an "illness." I was very angry at the time. Now I just regret that I never got a chance to see him live.

Wilson Pickett's records are some of the greatest ever in the history of American Music. There will never be another Wilson Pickett, or anything close.

Truly Must-See Video by OK Go

This is a video of by a group called OK Go. I have no idea who the hell these guys are, but this is the best video I've seen in a long fucking time (I caught it on New York Noise a week ago). It must have cost next to nothing to make. It looks as though it was shot in a member's back yard with only one camera. The most impressive thing to me is that it was done all in one take. Naturally, I don't know how many takes it took to get the final result, but they had to remember all those damn dance routines, even if they had a director yelling instructions off camera (the credits list no director, so maybe not). The song, "A Million Ways," is also brilliant, one of the finest bits of pop I've heard in quite some time. And all this from a band signed to Capitol Records? A poor state of affairs for indie music, in my view.

Here's OK Go's website. It doesn't say much about who the hell they are, but I learned from AMG that they're from Chicago. How's that for journalistic excellence?

Click here to download the video.

The Baked Ziti Radio Hour: Episodes 19 & 20

After a long delay, they're here: episodes 19 & 20 of the Baked Ziti Radio Hour! We tried a slightly different approach with the show this time around to see just how many people we could squeeze into our makeshift studio, better known as "my living room." Turned out seven was the magic number this time out. How much magic, you ask? You'll have to listen and find out.

Download the episodes here:

Episode 19
Episode 20

Michael O'Donoghue Quote Of The Day: #4

The holidays are truly over. It's time again to visit the wonderful world of Mr. Mike. The following is an excerpt from an O'Donoghue columns he used to publish for Spin magazine in the early 90's called "Not My Fault." This one concerns Liza Minelli:

Liza With An "F"
Let's talk about Liza Minnelli for a moment. I wouldn't fuck her with Hitler's dick. Hey, just kidding, Liza! I think you're "one dynamite lady," and I was just pulling your leg the way "put-down artist" Don Rickles used to "zing" you Vegas superstars with a lot of "That's one for the Jew" while pretending to keep score and "Look at Frank--is he laughing?" and then after the show they would all hug and kiss and shout "How's your bird?" and down a few more 7&7s and talk about how their wives play golf together and slap the bellboy and eat bacon and eggs off some hooker's triple-D tits. What a gas! Flippy, baby! Very flippy, indeed! Which reminds me of a joke. What's this?--OCEAN'S 10, OCEAN'S 9, OCEAN'S 8, OCEAN'S 7, OCEAN'S 6,... Answer--the Rat Pack dying! Clutching their chests, their hearts exploding, crashing to the floor, dentures splintering on the parquet, vein-splitting shrieks, blood pours out every hole, the entourage pressing close to catch the last words: "Oh God oh shit wait a minute don't uh-oh fuck." Later, the paramedic pockets the Rolex. Look at Frank--is he laughing?
....

Who's left? Liza. Freaky, mawkish Liza with those waif-found-stuffed-in-a-drainpipe looks and that paperback version of Judy's voice. Liza, not so much a human being as a walking collection of show business tics. Liza, whose career is based on the belief that you can't overuse the words "special" and "magic." Liza with an "F."

Obviously, on a sane planet, she would be kept in a cage and people would pay a small amount--no more than a quarter--to poke her with a stick. Yet here on Earth, she's a big star. Why, you ask, and rightly so? I'll tell you why. Because her mother, who always looked like she was two seconds from jumping off a high ledge, knew an incredible secret--a secret so dark and twisted that it has never been spoken aloud--a secret any Rosicrucian would give his left nut to possess--forbidden knowledge older than the pyramids unveiled here for the first time--a secret guarded by the rich and powerful for centuries yet I reveal it to you for the price of a rock'n'roll magazine--a dreadful secret that Judy, lying on her death bed, with seconds to live, leaned over and whispered into her daughter's ear:

"The person in the most pain wins."

Go here for the full version of "Liza With An "F", plus the remaining entries of "Not My Fault." [Many thanks to The Big Dave Page for housing these gems.]