Of Puppies and Death Metal

This might just qualify as the strangest — and perhaps coolest — bit of news I have ever received.

Apparently, every year around Halloween, the employees of Burton host a "Howl-O-Ween Doggie Costume Contest" to benefit their Chill youth program. And this year they have enlisted the help of some celebrity judges.

No, no. Not me. Not even a real celebrity like Tom Messner. This year's adjudicators of cute and cuddly are — are you ready? — GWAR.

Yes, that GWAR.

The contest, which takes place tomorrow (Tuesday) at the factory at 2 p.m., is not open to the public to enter. But since it happens in the lobby, right next to the store, it is, for all intents and purposes, open to anyone who wants to watch.

Bird Droppings

I was kinda laid up this weekend, fighting off the dying remains of a head and chest cold that sidelined me earlier in the week. Whilst spending Saturday night on the couch in my pajamas, hot toddy and dog by my side, I happened to catch some of Andrew Bird performing on PBS' Austin City Limits. In a word, whoa.

Now, I don't know that I really buy into "the healing power of song" or other similarly new age-y remedies. Give me a bottle of NyQuil any day. That said, Bird's TV performance got me really excited for his show at Higher Ground tonight — and in particular for opening act St. Vincent, who also appeared on the broadcast — and may just have served as the lift I needed to put that bit of nastiness behind me. I awoke Sunday feeling better than I had in days. Of course, that also may have had something to do with aforementioned hot toddies and NyQuil. Whatever.

Anyway, here's a recent clip of Bird performing with St. Vincent. Hope it whets your, um, whistle.

My Dearest Darling, "Decay"

This just in: a new track from My Dearest Darling, "Decay." MDD — now boasting Villanelles' Zane Gunderson — have been MIA for the last year or so while finishing up a new 8-song disc. Expect the new disc to drop this month. In the meantime, they'll be rocking Higher Ground tomorrow night with White Rabbits and Glass Ghost.

Portugal. The Show.

So, I had hoped to unleash the second installment of my still as yet unnamed podcast series today, this time featuring Vermont native Sarah Cronin from Drug Rug. The idea was to do a quick Q&A about the band and then spin a couple of tunes from their excellent new album, Paint the Fence Invisible. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Right.

However, Drug Rug are increasingly becoming kind of a big deal. As such, our schedules never quite lined up. We had to reschedule several times, the last time around because the band was slated — are you ready? — to tape a Daytrotter session when we were supposed to talk. If my humble little podcast had to be bumped, at least it was bumped in style. C'est la vie.

Anyway, tonight Drug Rug is playing Higher Ground with Portugal. The Man and Hockey, who are both pretty rad. Here's a vid from a recent DR show in Cleveland. No, not as cool as podcast. But cool nonetheless.

And here's a new-ish vid from the aforementioned radness that is Portugal. The Man. Enjoy!

Farm Is Pretty Fuckin' Good

This Just In: I love Farm.

You're shocked, right? Eh, maybe not so much at this point. Anyhoo …

Here are two tracks that Farm's Ben Maddox recently sent my way from the band's ongoing recording sessions. Apparently, they have about twenty songs in the works right now, with another ten or so on the way. Do I smell a double album in the works? Cuz that would be rad.

I should point out that these songs are both works in progress. Still, they seriously whet my appetite for more new material from a consistently excellent and sonically provocative local band. Enjoy!

Monkey vs. Demon

River to the Ocean

The Jazz Guys Do Beyoncé

Um, her music, that is. This is rad.

Little Boy Blues Rawk

The week-long multimedia purge continues with this cool cut, "Little Boy." The track comes to us courtesy of our very own Fatal Flaws and is the result of an increasingly intriguing collaboration with Montréal's the Broken Jugs. Me likey.

Oh, and speaking of multimedia fun, if you've got time to kill and want to exercise your brain muscles, check out what our old pal Casey Rae-Hunter has been up to this week. This is a link to the live streaming video from the Future of Music Policy Summit happening right this very second. Trust me, it's much more entertaining than it sounds, especially when the FMC gets all "Obama Death Panel" on stuffy industry dudes like they did yesterday with a clearly overmatched Steve Marks from the RIAA. Good times!

Black Magic Dance

So, I keep writing about all these vids and MP3s that you kind folks keep sending my way, and then I go and disappear from the blogosphere for a week. Oops! Sorry ’bout that. You'll see why on Wednesday, but it's been a rather hectic week here at your friendly neighborhood alt-weekly. Whatever. No excuses.

Anyway, I'm gonna unload everything I've got on you this week, beginning with this crazy ass music video entitled "Black Magic Dance." It comes to us from the star of last week's SoundBites column, the one, the only, CrowfeatheR. It's really, um … jeez, I honestly don't know what to say about this one, so I'm just gonna throw it out there and open the floor for discussion. Enjoy.