I just realized 40 minutes have passed while I’ve been playing with this thing.

Ready to make your own Bjork song? Click anywhere to begin.

Did you know that Mr. Rogers was an evil man? By telling children they’re special just for being who they are, the late kid’s show host helped create a generation of worthless, lazy socialists who think they’re entitled to rewards without working. Well, at least that’s what the lunatic poster-children for fear-mongering idiocy at Fox News are saying. In between Glenn Beck’s pathetic crying spells and endless coverage of Obama’s “horrible,” “nation-raping” “socialist agenda,” Fox packed these three idiots into a time slot, fired up the mics and evidently said “Be as utterly fucking ridiculous as you possibly can be.”

The result:
 

The Fox “News” anchors are completely serious when they attribute the differences in academic performance between Asian and American kids to the fact that Asian children didn’t grow up with Mr. Rogers’ encouragement and reassurance that they’re special little snowflakes. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we have a nearly bankrupt and hopelessly flawed education system – paying teachers less than garbage collectors – or that parents aren’t instilling the proper work ethic in their children. Essentially, these assholes want you to believe that American children underperform because Mr. Rogers taught them to expect everything in life to be handed to them on a silver platter.

They actually use the word “evil” to describe Mr. Rogers and criticize him for his “optimistic message.” Then one of them starts babbling about how children should go back to churning butter and making their own sweaters.

Let’s get something straight. In addition to being a cornerstone childhood icon that was a safe role model parents could rely on to help guide their child, Rogers was a far greater man than most people were aware of. He singlehandedly saved PBS from the executioner’s axe by testifying on the station’s behalf. He wrote every song you ever heard on his show. He routinely displayed immense acts of generosity, refusing credit or public acknowledgement. He was a better example to children, a better role model, than a good deal of the parents whose job it is to raise them.

According to a TV Guide piece on him, Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When he filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”

Once, while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and a colleague hopped on the subway. The car was filled with people, so they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” What an evil man.

And you’re going to blame American laziness on him? Every kids’ television character that ever lived should storm the station and dismember these ridiculous fuckers on live television (in front of their thick-headed, racist, panicked & desperately outnumbered audience), so we can see what true mean-spirited idiocy looks like from the inside. 

There are plenty of stories like these to go around. Fred Rogers was one of the greatest influences on children that ever walked the Earth. I’ve left you alone for long enough, Fox News, but you’ve crossed the line. 

You don’t fuck with Mr. Rogers.

Nas, help me out:

I don’t want to go inside just yet. Sitting in the car… Up The Beach just gave way to Stop on the stereo… the Jane’s Addiction show at the Echoplex tonight was fucking unbelievable. For just a few minutes, I felt like the giddy little music junkie I grew up as, totally freaking out over being three feet away from one of the most pivotal bands of not only my life, but the entirety of rock n’ roll.

Magic. Inspiration. The reason I’m here in the first place.
Stay tuned to Antiquiet for the review.

Damn.

This is a retarded video, and never in hell did I think T-Pain would ever, ever be a presence on this site, but I was too caught up in the sunny Hollywood vibes from having just interviewed Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans today at the Four Seasons to notice what was going on with the radio in the car, or the fact that I was rockin’ the hell out to a Ludacris song. 

For years, my launching point for radio here in L.A. has been Indie 103.1, but since that little gem of a station recently joined the great FM dial in the sky/went belly-up/became Taco Town, radio listening been like a blind free-fall in this town. I already said my piece on that particular topic, but essentially shit is all fucked up on the radio in L.A. these days, and I’ve found myself listening to some weird sounds lately. But really, I may have hit my head somewhere, cause this song is kicking my ass tonight.

Nevermind the fact that this looks like it was shot in 1977, or that they’ve apparently got Moby on guitar and Mitch Hedberg on bass. It’s a video of Electric Six before they were famous jet-setting playboy rock n’ rollers. From back in the days of yore, when they were known as the Wildbunch.

Dick Valentine’s famous onstage aerobics routine is there, and he makes sweet lemonade out of the studio’s apparent lack of a microphone for him to lip synch into.

There’s a groupie holding a sign that says, simply, RON. A bunch of desperately uncool parents dancing with their kids. Everybody looks uncomfortable and mildly embarrassed. And don’t miss the Margaret Cho doppleganger with the powerhouse interviewing skills: “Hey I like your drumsticks, they look pretty effective.”

Ignore the retarded Nader signs, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic performance of I am a Patriot, one of my all-time favorite Vedder covers. For the unenlightened, the song was written by Little Steven Van Zandt, better known to most as Silvio on The Sopranos.

This batch of scribbly notes is actually a pretty awesome find. It’s a personal, handwritten how-to guide for playing with jazz great Thelonious Monk – a man who genuinely marched to his own beat.

Monk’s percussive, improvisational style and habit of deliberately playing off-time made an incalculably large impact on the jazz world. His use of silence and mastery of cognitive dissonance was far outside the playing field for many of his peers at the time, which might explain the content of these handwritten notes:

My favorite lines: 

What you don’t play can be more important than what you do/Whatever you think can’t be done, someone will come along & do it/A genius is the one most like himself.

I was on a Monk kick earlier today and randomly stumbled across this fascinating bit of music history. It’s a glimpse inside the personality and performance philosophy of one of the greatest musicians this country’s ever produced.

While we’re talking inside glimpses, I should mention Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. It’s a documentary about Monk’s life, pulling from a massive archive of material that was unearthed in the 80s. The Clint Eastwood-produced film features live performances by Monk and his group, as well as posthumous interviews with friends and family.

He was a stormy, very private man, and this intimate look into his life and mechanisms is a rare gift.

Check it out:

I’ve never been a reissues kind of guy, but this looks like an overdose of awesome.

From PearlJam.com:

PEARL JAM ANNOUNCES THE REISSUE OF BAND’S DEBUT ALBUM, TEN:
FOUR SPECIAL EDITION PACKAGES IN STORES MARCH 24, 2009
TEN CLUB PRE-SALE OF SUPER DELUXE BOX SET BEGINS NOW

Album extras include:
Remaster of original Ten album + remix by producer Brendan O’Brien • 
DVD of previously unreleased 1992 Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged performance with 5.1 surround sound audio remix • LP of the band’s 1992 “Drop in the Park” concert • Replica of Pearl Jam three-song demo cassette with Eddie Vedder’s original vocal dubs • Recreation of Eddie Vedder composition notebook • Never before seen memorabilia • Bonus tracks and more.

Ten, the debut album that sold 12 million copies and introduced the world to Pearl Jam in 1991, will be reissued in four (4) new and expanded editions. Pre-orders of the Super Deluxe Edition begin today, through the Ten Club atPearlJam.com. All four editions will be available for purchase on March 24, 2009. The reissue of Ten serves as the launch of a planned two-year catalogue re-release campaign leading up to the band’s 20th anniversary in 2011. 

Each Ten package will include two versions of the album: the remastered version of the original album PLUS an accompanying remixed version done by the band’s long-time producer, Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Audioslave). Details on specific extras for each of the four packages are listed below.

“The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it,” says producer Brendan O’Brien. “The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that. After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original – giving a fresh take on it, a more direct sound.”

TEN RE-DESIGN
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, who served as the art director for the original Ten packaging, reprised his role for the reissues collaborating with designer, Andy Fischer, of Cameron Crowe’s Vinyl Films (Into the Wild soundtrack LP, Vanilla Sky soundtrack LP, Harold and Maude anniversary edition soundtrack LP). 

“The goal was to assemble the ultimate fan-piece,” explains Fischer. “Something Pearl Jam lovers could pore over as they experience an indelible record all over again, in an entirely new way.”

“The original concept was about really being together as a group and entering into the world of music as a true band…a sort of all-for-one deal,” says Jeff Ament. “There were some elements of the original Ten artwork that didn’t turn out the way we had hoped, due to time constraints. With this reissue, we’ve been able to take our time and invest resources into making the design the way we had originally intended.”

REPLICA OF PEARL JAM 3-SONG DEMO CASSETTE IN SUPER DELUXE EDITION
In the process of digging through his archives for this project, Ament came across an old cassette marked “Momma-Son” – the fabled original Pearl Jam demo tape featuring the first recorded versions of “Alive,” “Once” and “Footsteps.” Ament and guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready had recorded instrumental tracks of these songs to help solicit a singer for their newly formed band. Mutual friend – and then Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer – Jack Irons suggested they send the tape down to San Diego surfer and little-known singer Eddie Vedder. 

Completely inspired by what he heard from these musicians that he then only knew by name, Vedder quickly wrote lyrics, put these vocals to the music tracks and shipped the tape back to Seattle. Upon hearing how Vedder had transformed the songs, Ament, Gossard and McCready asked him to come up to Seattle so they could meet and have an official “tryout” together. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Jam was born. (A replica of the “Momma-Son” cassette will be included in the Super Deluxe Edition of Ten.)

Jeff Ament describes the experience of re-visiting that tape with singer Eddie Vedder: 
“I think the first time that Ed or I had opened any of those boxes was a few weeks ago. I knew that the original ‘Momma-Son’ cassette was somewhere, but I hadn’t listened to it in 17, 18, 19 years. It was cool to sit down and play it for the first time with Ed and see his reaction. And to find that 90% of it stayed exactly the same as what ended up on the record. A lot of elements were identical. There was some energy flying around at that point even from 1,300 miles away from Seattle to San Diego.”

THE FOUR EDITIONS OF TEN: ALBUM EXTRAS PER PACKAGE

1. Legacy Edition (2-disc set in mini-LP style slipcase):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· Re-designed packaging 

2. Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD specially designed hardbound package):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix 

3. Vinyl Collection (2-LP set)
· LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
· LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien

4. Super Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD, 4 LPs and replica cassette in linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix 
· LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
· LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien
· LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park – Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O’Brien)
· Cassette: replica of original “Momma-Son” Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring “Alive,” “Once” and “Footsteps”
· Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam’s early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert.