Location: Somerville, MA Game: World of Warcraft Main: Floinn, Human Mage, Auchindoun Thromgar, Orc Warrior, Duskwood Evidence: Flickr will be the death of us Contact: AIM: McFlynnTHM Email: McFlynnTHM (AT) gmail (DOT) com Social networking: DeviantArt Twitter Facebook Yelp MySpace Personal site

So I won a contest on the Org Summit, and as a result, one of the members sent me a prize. I had no idea what the prize was. It came today! ( Read more... )

So, in the end Wonton/Justin redeemed himself, and single-handedly took care of my Christmas shopping for you all. STOKED?

Tunes: The Connie Dungs - Lost in the Microcosm

One of the best albums ever recorded? Quite possibly!

Tunes: The Lawrence Arms - The Ramblin' Boys of Pleasure

( Shopping list? )

The worst part about spending your day reading about and listening to new music is that I'm encouraged to spend a lot more money on a lot more bands.

Tunes: Hot Water Music - Paper Thin

Hot damn!

That SSCP class we all took, that I was 100% sure I failed? Just got the results. I passed!

Thank god!

Tunes: Off With Their Heads - That Must Be Nigel With the Brie

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but Frank Turner's latest album, Love, Ire, and Song, was released in the US yesterday via Epitaph Records. An odd fit for them, but a totally awesome album from a really fantastic singer/songwriter. His new album, Poetry of the Deed, is dropping Sept. 7th, 2009. It's gonna be great!
Here's a video for his song "Photosynthesis."

Got a whole bunch of records I had somewhat forgot that I'd ordered yesterday:
- Bad Religion - No Control LP
- Thee Makeout Party - Play Pretend LP
- Shark Pants - Porno Snakehead LP
- Screeching Weasel - Wiggle LP
- A second copy of the Carry the Torch Kid Dynamite tribute 2xLP, because I'm a moron and pre-ordered it twice from two different sources, months apart
So, if anyone knows/is a Kid Dynamite fan who would love a collection of KD covers on vinyl, send 'em my way. I somehow doubt there's a huge market for this sucker (as eBay has not a single listing).

So, sometimes I don't mind Larry. Other times, like today, when he argued that the Cambridge cops were right to arrest Harvard professor Henry Gates, and probably should have done more- I believe he said he should have been shot, thought I think/hope he was being hyperbolic- I really don't know what else to do other than shake my head in disbelief. Oy.

Looks like the restart of the Doomsday MachineLarge Hadron Collider has been pushed back yet again, to mid-November. So you've got a few months more to get everything you've wanted in life done. Hop to it.

Windows 7, Microsoft's follow-up to the much-maligned Vista, is rolling out to maufacturing August 6th, with some beta testers and OEMs getting it now. What do you think about the forthcoming version of the world's most, uh, prevalent operating system? Any of you play around with Win7 yet? I toyed with a couple of betas and found it to be a great improvement to Vista, but then, I appreciate some of the steps forward that Vista made.
I still would love to see MS put some of its massive brainpower toward an all-new Windows kernel/architecture, but that's a dream I doubt I'll see for another 10 years. Though, it does seem like the corporate culture over in Redmond is undergoing something of a shift.

Tunes: Hot Water Music - 220 Years

Also, here's Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem covering Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It starts a bit shaky, but he gets there.

New Jersey's punk darlings, The Gaslight Anthem, played Glastonbury this past weekend. They opened their set with the title track from last year's The '59 Sound. And who joined them but the Boss, Bruce Springsteen? Anyone who's listened to the band knows that they have a huge hard-on for Springsteen.

You can download a video of it here. There's also a crappy video on YouTube.

Tunes: Bruce Springsteen - Bobby Jean

In about half an hour, my coworkers and I are marching to the Rec Center to take the SSCP exam. We are most likely all going to fail this shit. Even Bob isn't confident. Ugh.

At least Vistronix will pay for us to retake it?

On the plus side, Punknews is streaming the new Dear Landlord album, and it rules. I mean, with members of the Copyrights and Rivethead, one would expect so, but it still should be said. So there's that.

Tunes: Dear Landlord - Hell

The Bosstones are playing in Providence, RI on August 14th. Anyone want to go?

Tunes: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Next to Nothing

Man, this fucks! I just checked MySpace, and found this message in my inbox from the other day:

Jfly -

Sadly after such a short run - Mariah is moving to England to get married by the end of the summer, so thus endeth The Shortcuts as we know it.

As one of the few awesome folks who appreciated us -- and better yet suppported us out loud! -- outside of the Twin Cities, send me your snail mail address and we'll send y'all a CD of our second (and last?) effort! Thank you for you taking notice of the Mpls scene.

Cheers and thanks! Monet and the rest of The Shortcuts

That totally blows. I really dug their self-titled CD, and was hoping they'd make a more national tour- or at least a northeast tour- happen, but alas! Totally cool that they're sending me some music, though!

If you never checked them out, do it, why don't ya? They played some exceedingly fun pop-punk.

Maybe I should take a trip out to Minneapolis... :P

Tunes: Frank Turner - Substitute

Two things:

First, I finally sat down and actually listened to Frank Turner, former singer for British hardcore band Million Dead turned singer-songwriter. His latest album, Love Ire & Song is goddamned awesome. Please don't be like me and continue to miss out on this wonderful album. Go. Listen now.

Second, the Suburban Home Records Tour is kicking off at the end of July. Dates are here. On 8/17, Austin Lucas will be hitting the Middle East upstairs with Jon Snodgrass (Drag the River) and Two Cow Garage. Come on down! These guys are doing some of the best underground alt-country out there. Austin's Somebody Loves You LP is one of my favorite albums of the year.

AND TO TIE IT ALL TOGETHER: I also got in the mail today Suburban Home's 8th Under the Influence 7", featuring Frank Turner covering Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road," and Austin Lucas tackling Dolly Parton's "To Daddy." It rules.

Tunes: Frank Turner - Thunder Road

I will start off this Monday morning with a kitten. ZOMG.

After seeing an ad for it in the latest Razorcake, I picked up Side B: The Music Lover's Comic Anthology at Newbury Comics. It's pretty great! It features a several page comic by Mitch Clem (rainofbastards) depicting his interpretation of the Mr. T Experience's song "Checkers Speech," along with comics by Jim Mahfood (GRRL Scouts, "Stupid Comics," the Clerks comic books, etc.), Megan Rose Gedris (Yu+Me, Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space), and many others. I recommend checking it out.

Tony, from the Boston Jolly Pirates, hooked us up with a leak of the new Big D and the Kids Table album, Fluent in Stroll, recently. It's... different. A lot different. They had said at some point that the new album would be similar to their Shot by Lammi split full-length, but I don't know what they're talking about. Maybe it was opposite day at the time. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Their live show is going to be interesting. They really seem to be moving away from the ska-punk sound that dominated their early (read: pre-Strictly Rude) albums. Which is a bummer, since they don't do the Westbound Train thing all that well.

Tunes: MTX - Book of Revelation

First, the Amanda Palmer show was so freaking good. Great, intimate setting; a fairly new recording studio on Mass Ave toward the Alewife Brook Parkway. She had the Army of Broken Toys opening, and they were cool. She took requests, played some new songs, and answered questions from the crowd. All in all, really great show. Crappy pictures are here!

Second, someone from the Bosstones forum just posted this video: The Bosstones performing their cover of Slapshot's "What's At Stake" from last year's Hometown Throwdown 11, with Choke (Slapshot's vocalist). Observe Choke bleeding from the head, due to an accident involving a mic stand during his own band's opening set.

Tunes: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - What's At Stake (live, feat. Choke)

Most effective promo ever: