Yes, it's Friday, and it's been a hell of a week for smackdowns: Cramer vs. Stewart, Yorke vs. Cyrus, Obama vs. Everybody...

The goofiest feud of the week was definitely between Thom Yorke and Miley Cyrus. According to an MTV News story from this week, Cryus felt snubbed at the Grammys when Yorke and fellow visionary Johnny Greenwood failed to say hello to the Disney tween. The story claimed that the band told Us Weekly, "When Miley grows up, she'll learn not to have such a sense of entitlement." Of course this only fanned the flames of those fragile Disney feelings. Even though the band's longtime publicist Steve Martin took credit for making the statement, the gossip has apparently rattled Mr. Yorke himself--in a blog post from yesterday, he writes, "wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you're not one of those people i have managed to offend by doing nothing xx -Thom"

This week also saw the much anticipated bloodbath that was last night's Daily Show smackdown: Jim Cramer vs. Jon Stewart. Jim Cramer was invited onto the show after calling for a one-on-one debate with Stewart, who had been lambasting the financial pundit recently over bad calls and misdirection. For all his bravado in demanding the showdown the meekness of Cramer's self defense was alarming. After Stewart played embarrassing clips of Cramer giving dubious advice and literally calling his show "bullshit" to his face, Cramer's best defense a waffling, "I will try to do better," and a tepid handshake. Stewart was like Ali at Rumble In The Jungle, with no rope-a-dope.

President Obama also had a tough week in the smackdown department. After facing criticism from both the left and the right for trying to do too much at once, he described himself as the "object in chief" for judgments based on fickle stock market fluctuations, he said, "I'm not choosing to address these additional challenges just because I feel like it or because I'm a glutton for punishment." As if Obama didn't have enough people giving him shit, today Chinese premier Wen Jiabao publicly declared he was worried about the value of American government treasuries, of which the Chinese government owns $1 trillion. But yesterday, as if to vindicate the president, both Citigroup and Bank of America said that the government stimulus programs are starting to work for them, and worldwide stock markets soared in response, along with the news that broader economic indicators for February were better than expected. Score one for the Prez.-AM

I've often listened to The Felice Brothers' songs and wondered at how many stories they weave between the dirty, soulful guitar rifts and gritty, folksy fiddles. Yeah, the music is awesome - check it out on their Myspace. That tripping piano solo on "Love Me Tenderly" makes me smile every time I hear it. But this is a band that has great lyrics too. Sure, sometimes they're a little dark, but that makes it interesting.

Simone Felice (who's got his own Myspace Music page here) does vocals, drums and guitar for the band. And here's a little known fact - he writes books too! Felice's last book, published in April 2004, is titled Goodbye Amelia (coincidentally, this is my name. I had no idea he wrote a book about me.) The 202-pager was a two part novella/poetry collection, hailed by the likes of BBC radio. A sample chapter is available for online reading here.

Felice's other recently released book is called Hail Mary, Full of Holes, and has also enjoyed shining reviews. Besides becoming a budding novelist, the Felice Brother will be touring with the rest of the band to celebrate the release of their new record, Yonder is the Clock. The record will drop April 7. Tour dates after the jump. - AK

March 2009
Friday 13 | Water Street Music Hall, Rochester, NY
Saturday 14 | Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY
Sunday 15 | Stuart's Opera House, Nelsonville, OH
Monday 16 | Radio Radio, Indianapolis, IN
April 2009
Tuesday 7 | The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie, NY
Thursday 9 | Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Friday 10 | Valentine's, Albany, NY
Saturday 11 | Higher Ground, S. Burlington, VT
Wednesday 15 | Birchmere Bandstand, Alexandria, VA
Thursday 16 | Trocadero Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
Friday 17 | Webster Hall, New York, NY
Saturday 18 | Pearl Street Nightclub, Northampton, MA
Sunday 19 | Ringwood Public Library - New Legacy Concert Series, Ringwood, NJ
Tuesday 21 | Castaway's, Ithaca, NY
Wednesday 22 | Mr. Smalls Funhouse, Pittsburgh, PA
Friday 24 | Headliners Music Hall, Louisville, KY
Saturday 25 | Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
Tuesday 28 | Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
Wednesday 29 | Smith's Olde Bar, Atlanta, GA
Thursday 30 | Rhythm and Brews, Chattanooga, TN
May 2009
Friday 1 | Barley's Tap Room, Knoxville, TN
Friday 22 | Buffalo Creek Music Festival, Lexington, VA
July 2009
Friday 17 | Master Musicians Festival, Somerset, KY
Saturday 25 | Floydfest, Floyd, VA - more info

The spastic post-post-hardcore duo comprised of Zach Hill and Spencer Seim are back.

Hella, who have been on hiatus for about four years, are writing a new record and hope to have it finished in 2009. The remaining details are murky. From the band: "Those details will be figured and announced sooner than later. International touring will most likely follow suit. Until then GET PSYCHED, CHAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

In his February address to Congress, the president stated that "the day of reckoning has arrived." Literally. It's a good time for doomsday movies, and Lionsgate is celebrating with a new collectors' edition release of T2: Judgment Day. It comes in this conveniently terrifying skull packaging, whose eyes light up red and which emits a death groan sound-effect. ("Naaaationalize...." or something to that effect.) It includes the original movie in Blu Ray, plus six billion hours of extra features. Look for it May 19.

T2 is without doubt the best Swarzenegger film (yes, I'm including Twins in that calculation) and it's probably one of the top 5 apocalyptic movies of all time. But in case you just can't get enough Ahhhnold, Lionsgate is also releasing The Arnold Swarzenegger DVD Collection on the same day, featuring gems like Total Recall and The Running Man.-AM

- ok, maybe I should lock my door - I swear a random dude just walked into my bathroom and I can't believe I haven't freaked out

- ok - he's still in the bathroom and Im now thinking a combo of hobo and drunk and sleepwalking dude - he seems late 20s - hmmm what next ?

- I'm thinking the hobo part cause I can smell BO - and I really am wondering why I haven't freaked the F out

- there is no TP in my bathroom - wonder if that is complicating things for him - was gonna wait for him to come out and kick him out

- haven't gone in yet ..... debating calling cops but just feel it's not needed for some reason (and probably contrary to all logic)

- ok - still haven't done anything - he is still in there - gonna setup a ustream now I think - standby

Soooooo, yeaaaaaaah. I don't really know what to say about this. But honestly, twitter's slogan is "Twitter: What are you doing?" Not only is this retarded, but I'd just like to point out that no one gives a fuck what you're doing unless they're trying to go out, get drunk (or laid) and party. So I hope, hope, HOPE that this just a passing fad. Please.

Nobody buys CDs anymore. Record labels assumed the CD would last forever, and unwitting consumers would continue spending $18.99 on full-length albums for a few key tacks. That ended over four years ago, and the industry is still reeling from its effect.

With iTunes being the largest music retailer in the world, a physical store with a human staff seems as antiquated as the CD itself. As a result, Virgin are shuttering their stores.

When Tower Records closed, I'll admit I was a little upset. Despite being a chain retailer, they were the first of their kind to give independent music a real shot, and as a teen in the nineties, I discovered a lot of great records at their flagship location in New York City.

Virgin Megastore's demise doesn't bother me. It's a neon ghetto. Cavernous locations, impersonal staff -- the opposite of a record shop. That said, store closings do mean one thing: great sales. Nearly everything at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square is 40 -60% off. If you're in the city, stop by and bid them adieu -- you might see something actually worth buying, which, given the economy, hasn't been the case in the past six or seven months. -SB

Ok and aside from the summer dates below, they'll also be playing a F-R-E-E show next Saturday, March 21st in Austin at the Auditorium Shore Stage as part of SxSW. I will destroy anyone that gets in the way of my attending that show. Consider that a fair warning. -SK

TOUR DATES

6/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium (tickets on sale Saturday, 3/14)
6/30 New York, NY @ Central Park Summer Stage (tickets on sale Saturday, 3/14)
7/2 Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre (tickets on sale Saturday, 3/14)

The Oklahoma State Legislature has voted "Do You Realize??" as its official state rock and roll song.

If you are wondering why our country is such a mess, it's because state legislators are busy voting on stuff like this instead of issues that, I don't know, might actually effect people in a quantifiable way.

That said, if anyone deserves to have the official state rock & roll song of Oklahoma, it's The Flaming Lips. They even beat out The Ventures! So what's left to say? Congratulations? -SB

First things first. Let's talk about the name. What is the Cotton Jones Basket Ride? Where'd that come from? Cotton Jones is less of a mouthful -- I assume that's why you've shortened it.
The name is irrelevant to the music, really. I don't really know where the name came from -- rolled off someone's tongue one day, and that's become the box we've been putting these songs inside. Oddly, I took much shit for the name -- not the name itself -- just the idea I have that the name doesn't matter. We'd just made our rounds with Page France, and people knew us as that. So, when I had the crazy idea of turning a new leaf, a lot of people thought it was dumb, to put it simply... like, "why don't you just call it Page France?"

What were the events that led up to Cotton Jones becoming a priority? What happened to Page France?
We've just continued to make music really, taking a more casual approach. We just enjoy the process of making sounds together. With Page France, it simply seemed time to move on. It probably doesn't make sense to a lot of people, and that's alright. A lot of the same people are involved, and we're working with the same label, so we could have released these tunes under that name. Something about it just didn't seem right. I think we view the process of making music, and the business involved with it much differently now. Page France was an eye-opening time period. We had no experience to draw from. Now, I guess we sort of do. However, when the names are stripped away, it's just music, and the process involved, and that's what matters most to me.

Paranoid Cocoon is terrific. Congratulations. I'm sure you're excited. Are there any fears or expectations?
I'm excited to move forward. There's always this uncomfortable period of time between the completion of a record and it's eventual release. And, by the time it arrives, I think most people who make records are ready to put the next thing out. I've been much too frivolous in the past -- released too much material before it was really ready. I'm not saying that's the case with Cocoon, but I can say that we're really just now figuring out what Cotton Jones is, and looking forward to the future, whether it's the next record, or just getting out on the road again.

In listening to it, I hear a bit of the Doors as well as a favorite of mine, Camera Obscura. Are you fans of either bands? Are comparisons to the Doors welcomed?
The Doors thing is odd. I really don't listen to the Doors, and have never really listened to the Doors in depth. There are things I like about the Doors, but they've never been an influence of any sort. And, of course, if you play a Cotton Jones record next to a Doors record, it's probably not gonna be an audio mirror or anything. I just watched a really shitty movie about the Doors too. Perhaps, it influenced my subconscious. A buddy of mine showed me the last Camera Obscura record, and I dug it.

Songwriting is usually a personal and cathartic process, but then, in order to make a living off of playing in a band, other people have to relate to the music as well. As a songwriter (and assuming the process is a personal venture) is the way the public/critics will receive the band/record a cause for concern?
The ultimate goal is becoming a bit clearer to me now. I enjoy recording. I get off on the process of something happening when you're not trying to make it so. I used to be more concerned about what others thought about what we were doing, and how it would be received ...until I realized that the worry did nothing for me -- didn't make me happy -- just stressed me out, really. At the end of the day, the only important thing is being happy with what you've made. Trying to make a living out of it doesn't always work. I'm uncomfortable being involved in the business process. We're blessed to be working with the best label folks at Squeeze -- they're so good to us. There's just something about the business of making music that I've never grown warm to.

Most bands either enjoy writing/recording or touring. Rarely do I come across ones that enjoy both aspects of being in a band. What's the case for Cotton Jones? Are you guys looking forward to touring?
I think we're all really looking forward to touring. It's been a while since we've been out. I've been pushing a lot of buttons lately. I'm very ready to get out and help fix a blown tire.

The band is technically just the two of you. Was a band put together to flesh out the instrumentation for the making of the record? If so, will the same group of musicians be joining you on the tour? Or will it be the two of you?
It's just easy for Whitney and I to record songs casually. We get a good bit of free time. However, we've been recording a lot of stuff lately with the band, and it's been great. It's a lot different. There's this great energy I'd forgotten about. We'll be touring as a seven piece. I like the idea of being able to present the tunes both ways -- I think there are positive and negative sides to both. It's nice being able make music with friends, but I can't expect it to be an all-consuming thing for them -- everyone's got their thing happening, so we'll be a band when we can, and sometimes we'll just do it as the two of us.

Do you have hobbies or jobs aside from the responsibilities pertaining to being in Cotton Jones?
Yeah, we've all got our hobbies and jobs. Whit works at a dress shop and takes a lot of photos. I work construction from time to time, and love sports talk radio.

Who is the expert whistler?
I can only whistle in certain keys ...and only if my lips are dry. A bad whistler can sound good with enough reverb, though.

Anything else you'd liked to add?
Thanks.

Paper (mp3) - Out Of It Into It

Give me a wheel and a hamster, and I'll show a little guy with energy to spare.

I don't know much about zinc oxide or how to produce nanowires, but I do know that if nanowires are flexed they produce electricity. Recently a huge leap was made in the field of nanopiezoelectrics, or the capture of electric energy through movement.

What's different about the hamster pictured to the left is that its wearing a cute little jacket that is generating electricity. Apparently a thousand hamsters can charge a cell phone. I knew they weren't useless!

The exciting part: in a few years we could be wearing jackets that will charge our iPhones as we walk around. Whether or not this will result in fewer dropped calls remains to be tested. -SB

Read more at Discovery News.

This is for the 8.1% of the population currently unemployed out there. (Or for the nebulously defined "under-employed" population we keep hearing about. Doesn't "under-employed" basically mean that you have a job, but that you'd like more money? And if so, isn't that most of us?) Anyway, for anyone who needs a new job, FedEx Kinkos is doing their part for the recession by offering 25 free printouts on fancy resume paper. But it's only for today. March 10 is officially get-a-new-job day at Kinkos. So if you fall into that 8.1%, or if you'd just like more money like everybody else, go pick up your free resumes today. -AM

Fact: Everyone hates Republicans.

It started in 2005, then reached a fever pitch in late 2007, the last boon of Republican protectionism mostly attributed to, "Well, let's see if the surge works." The surge kinda worked! Nobody cares.

It's not particularly healthy, especially in terms of democratic legitimacy, for everyone to jump on the band wagon, but my god, could you imagine what would have happened if McCain / Palin won? Foreclosure protection? Bank bailouts? Financial restructuring? No way -- the fundamentals of the market are sound, remember?

After the Bobby Jindal fiasco, Sarah Palin caught red-handed siphoning taxpayer money, and the stream of outbursts from that bloated redneck Rush Limbaugh, they're getting what they deserve. Though Mitt Romney is staying squeaky clean for 2012, he's even selling some of his mansions.

Doomsday scenario: Obama's initiatives fail (mostly because of concessions he made to stoke bipartisanship) and power is voted back to a party that has clearly demonstrated it's unfit to speak in public, let alone lead. -SB

Coachella has posted its digital magazine to accompany the 2009 festival, which takes place April 17 - 19.

The magazine, which you can read here has some slow load times and isn't the easiest thing on the eye, but it has integrated some cool interactive elements, like clicking text to play videos and so on.

This year's Coachella has the same charged line up you've grown to expect, though I can't back The Killers headlining Saturday. Everyone should be excited for the Band of Horses that night as they're sure to continue debuting new music. Let's hope they haven't peaked. -SB

Today President Obama announced Van Jones as his administration's adviser on the creation of green jobs. But what is a green job, anyway?

Job creation is a large part of the president's economic stimulus package, and has received almost as much criticism as the bank bailout portion of the bill. Obama's detractors have criticized the bill because the 3.5 million jobs it plans to create won't be available until 2010. With the economy shedding 600,000 jobs per month, the plan has been criticized as too little too late.

The appointment of Jones is, at the very least, a welcome addition and a sign of the administration's pledge to ween our country off fossil fuels. His book, The Green Collar Economy, received a positive reaction from the world's top environmentalists. Let's hope Jones doesn't get embroiled in the clean coal debate. And let's push through with nuclear energy for fuck's sake -- three-eyed fish be damned. -SB

Here it is. The video for Yeah Yeah Yeahs' terrific new single "Zero." Also, It's Blitz (the new album) is streaming here in its entirety. -IL

Click here to download The Soft Pack's new EP The Muslims (besides being the name of their EP, this is also the former name of the band). LA/San Diego's gritty rock quartet delivers 10 tracks on the EP, which is also available on iTunes. If you're already a fan, chances are you've already heard most of the songs (if you've never heard of them, check out the music on their Myspace). March 10 marks the official debut of the band on Kemado Records with this digitally released EP. Tracks include:

1. Right And Wrong
2. Beside Myself
3. Call It A Day
4. Extinction
5. Nightlife
6. Future Rock
7. On My Time
8. Religion
9 American
10. Bright Side

The band is also playing shows right and left, including many at SXSW. Tour dates (that go into July) after the jump.

3/19/09 Austin, TX @ Club 1808 (Gigotron SXSW Day Party)
3/19/09 Austin, TX @ Opal Divine’s (Green Label Sound Event)
3/20/09 Austin, TX @ Mohawk (Official SXSW Showcase Event)
3/21/09 Austin, TX @ French Legation (Press Here Garden Party)
3/21/09 Austin, TX @ Waterloo Park (Don’t Mess with Texas Party)
3/24/09 Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
3/25/09 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
3/26/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
3/27/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
3/28/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
3/30/09 Montreal, QC @ Les Saints
3/31/09 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
4/01/09 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
4/02/09 Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio
4/03/09 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
4/04/09 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
4/07/09 Seattle, WA @Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room
4/08/09 Vancouver, BC @ Richard’s on Richards Cabaret

UK Tour Dates:
03/04-5 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands with Franz Ferdinand
03/06 Manchester, England - Academy with Franz Ferdinand
03/08 Birmingham, England - Academy with Franz Ferdinand
03/09 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo with Franz Ferdinand
03/10 Southampton, England - Guildhall with Franz Ferdinand
05/17 Minehead, England - ATP
05/18 Oxford, England - Academy
05/19 Birmingham, England - Academy
05/20 London, England - 100 Club
05/25 Manchester, England - The Deaf Institute
05/26 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tuts
05/28 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
05/29 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
07/2-07/5 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival - AK