Altruism Irish Punk Style

Shane McGowan formerly of the Pogues has done a charity single to benefit Haitian relief. Suffice it to say this isn't "We Are The World." The official copy runs thus:

Released on March 8th 2010
Please pre-order the single by clicking here - http://bit.ly/bj2ieH. Or text SPELL (all in capitals) to 78789 (the text costs £1.50).

So moved by the plight of the people of Haiti, Shane and his long term girlfriend, writer Victoria Clarke made calls to friends and associates from which began the process of recording a track from which ALL proceeds go to Concern, a charity who have provided assistance to some of the poorest countries in the world including Haiti, even before the earthquake struck. Some of the stars on the record include - Nick Cave / Bobby Gillespie / Glen Matlock / Johnny Depp / Chrissie Hynde / Paloma Faith / Eliza Doolittle.

I Put A Spell On You - Screamin Jay Hawkins

I Put A Spell On You - Bette Midler

I Put A Spell On You - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Financial Support Goes Here (though maybe don't download those, just give a listen and move on. Seriously I don't want to get sued.)

Screamin Jay Hawkins
Bette Midler
CCR

P.S. If you are reading this and for some reason have the rights to any of this music I have three things to say to you:
1-Welcome to my blog
2-Let's all remember that this is for a good cause
3- If you really object to this being here, there's no reason to get all litigious, just let me know and we'll have those songs pulled down in a jiffy. No on needs to know you'd rather the people Haiti starve to death than someone get their filthy paws on one of your songs with out paying. Not that I advocate that of course.

Review: Lemuria - Ozzy 7"

Let's get this out of the way right from the outset, I love Lemuria. I thought Get Better was one of the best complete albums I'd heard in a while. All this means that new Lemuria music = excited Keegan. That said, the Ozzy 7" had some big shoes to fill which I thought it took an admirable stab at. The record has two songs; Ozzy by the guitarist Sheena Ozzella and Expert Herder by the drummer Alex Kearns. Kearns wrote a majority of the songs on Get Better and he was certainly responsible for my favorites, but on the Ozzy single, it is Ozzella's title track that shines lyrically. Musically a little slow, lyrically it is a single repeated verse of the sort of poignant, understated vignettes I loved on Get Better. There's an element of the Weakerthans in this song, though I would guess that Ozzella is a dog-person to Samson's cats. Kern's contribution, though the more up-tempo and interesting musically, loses me somewhat lyrically. What exactly is an expert herder? Perhaps if I knew, I would find that this song is just as meaningful and awesome as I expected it to be. Alex Kearns: if you're out there, please feel free to drop me a line and elaborate on the meaning of this song. Or even just shoot the breeze, that'd be cool too. Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes, the Ozzy 7" is a perfect way to maintain that Get Better high you've had going and to keep you from going into withdrawal while you wait for another full length. Oh P.S. I'm not going to post a song from the single because that would be half the record, so instead I'm posting my favorite track from The First Collection, an older Lemuria record.

Lemuria - In A World of Ghosts....

Financial Support Goes Here aka BUY EVERYTHING THEY'VE EVER DONE!

Lemuria

TRUCK DAY

Happy Truck Day everyone. For those of you who don't know, today marks the beginning of the beginning of another glorious heart-wrenching Red Sox season. Will fortune take us soaring into a triumphant post season, like Jacoby Ellsbury scoring from second on a passed ball, or will it kick us in the proverbial pills where we, like Adrian Beltre, do not wear protection? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: in the words of Dustin Pedroia

"That used to be a putting green, but we took that sh*t out cause I don't play golf."

A Little Random To Get Things Started

UPDATE II: The problem mentioned below should now be fixed thanks to Greg.
UPDATE: Before you do anything, scroll down and pause the stupid video at the bottom. I don't know how to fix the fact that it starts automatically and it annoys the hell out of me.
I have a serious back log of albums which I'm listening to right now and I'm hoping to write reviews of the more recent releases, so I thought I'd do a little opening salvo to get myself into the swing of things.

First of all, I feel like I can tentatively say that my Bruins have turned a bit of corner. After going into an absolute tailspin of a 10-game losing streak they've put up two consecutive Ws with a decisive shut out of the hated Canadiens which they followed with a shoot-out win against Buffalo. If the B's can reel off a thrid win tonight against the upwardly mobile Tampa Bay Lightning, it will both legitimize this turn for the better, and put them back into playoff contention. Weirdly enough the rising star through all this has been the young goaltender Tukka Rask. Rask, if you'll recall, was one of my four young Bruins to watch back at the start of the season. This does raise some questions about how wise the contract extension given to Tim Thomas last year was, and perhaps this has fueled the "Tim Thomas' ass is grass" trade rumors that have leaked out lately. I like Thomas, and I wouldn't want to see him traded because as bad as it is for a player to have an off year right after the big contract, I would really miss moments like this:



For those of you who have been biding your time until I stop talking hockey, I'm done now. I have a couple of musical items to round out the program, the first of which is the band The Demonstration who have posted a pretty bizarre Lady Gaga cover on their myspace. You'll probably find it amusing if you like Lady Gaga and also if you really don't. Also, they're from North Carolina so that's pretty cool. Not like metalcore bands from the south are anything new, but I'd hate to miss a chance to rep NC.

And finally, a video from a band that will always have a soft spot in my heart going back to the truly awesome first Rock Against Bush comp: Strike Anywhere. Look beyond the hair on the singer and the weird spots of dead air in the video and this is SA doing what they do best, play vaguely political and inspiring hardcore punk and accompany it with vaguely political and inspiring videos. Enjoy and stay tuned for some serious reveiwage. Also made-up words.