Wonderful Things

The Cold War Kids' video for "Hang Me Up to Dry" (via) is so sweet. I see a little bit of a Rushmore influence in it, in the way that you have these adults plopped into a middle school (?) setting but interacting with the kids as equals. And, ultimately, the shared influence there is probably Salinger; lead singer Nathan Willett even name-checks Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters in his description of their new song "God Make Up Your Mind," over at Daytrotter.

Speaking of Daytrotter, I love how Sean Moeller gets such consistently wonderful conversation and rumination out of the artists who make a point to stop off at the Futureapplestudio (not to mention, of course, such wonderful live performances). For just one example, here's George Hunter of Catfish Haven during their visit back in April:

"I’ve always had a dream of doing a crooner thing. Not like what Frank Sinatra did, but something where I’d write these angelic pop songs that are just perfect. I’d have my Price Is Right microphone and I’d just be walking around singing. I definitely try to get that fucking feeling into the songs, but we also try to wake up the neighbors every time we play too."

Aiee! That just makes me so happy. Daytrotter's also got John Vanderslice talking about, among other things, gardening blogs. So great.

I'm distraught that the Catfish Haven show this weekend is the same night as the Mountain Goats' gig at the Empty Bottle. Choices, choices. Darnielle's got my love for now, but I need to shimmy and sweat with Hunter and his boys sometime soon, soon, soon. Their full length Tell Me is out today, and if the rest of the album lives up to the soulful righteousness (in the full-on '70s slang sense of the word) of the eponymous single, hoo boy, it's going to be all kinds of good.

Matt Berninger, you totally were not doing boring things all summer. You were busy buying me boxes of chocolates and telling me how pretty I look in that new dress. Best imaginary boyfriend ever!

I'm sorry, I know this doesn't fall under the heading of wonderful things, but, seriously, enough with the cupcakes already. I am so over it. Can I get some backlash up in here?

I'd like to join the chorus with Ms. Paradise and send big love out to newlyweds Amber and Chad. There's something really special about attending the wedding of a couple that's already been together for a number of years. Rather than feeling like a uniting of one plus one, the ceremony felt like a celebration of the culture of their relationship, especially in the way they used their circle of friends as active participants in all aspects the event--everything from officiating to bartending. The repeated refrain, with variations, of "when I first met Amber" and "I've know Chad since" and "when the two of them first got together" added an intimate but communal feeling to all the romantic elegance. My snaps are up in a Flickr photoset, and believe you me I am not using the phrase romantic elegance lightly. It's not just self-deprecation when I say my photos do not do justice to how completely gorgeous it was. I was really honored to have been in attendance.

A belated happy birthday to LK!

How Come You Dance So Good?

I've long found the actual "we'll always be your sugar" tagline to be quite funny, but this certainly does improve on it in a whole wonderfully awful new way.

From today's New York Times: NYC is getting into the act and showing some love for the migratory birds, too.

Craig Robinson, the mastermind behind Minipops and other pixel-based goodness at Flip Flop Flyin', commemorated his birthday yesterday with a list of other noteworthy events and celebrity births from the same date that he found listed on Wikipedia. Has everybody else already done this for their birthdays? I just did a search on February 18, and, while I did know most of the amusing celebrity birthdays (Adolphe Menjou, John Travolta, Vanna White, Yoko Ono, Toni Morrison, and Matt Dillon, anyone?) and that Pluto was discovered on my birthdate in 1930, I did not know that on the same day

* Martin Luther died in 1546, Michaelangelo died in 1564, and Oppenheimer died in 1967
* Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the confederacy in 1861
* Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1885
* the first full-length 3D movie Bwana Devil premiered in 1953, and
* KISS released their debut album in 1974.

Rock!

Grinnellians: one of you should so post a comment to this discussion of indie wedding songs. "Idioteque" and "Love the One You're With," def! On much the same note, I'm still laughing at Shawn's story about how he attended a wedding this summer where the best man, who disapproved of the union, contributed motherfucking "Stars and Stripes Forever" to the mix CD that was compiled by the wedding party and given out as favors to all the attendees. That just kills me. The idea of some sorority sister of the bride listening to that disk in her car to remind her of the special occasion and being all "what the shit is this shit?" when the goddamn brass kicks in. Love it.