Two years ago to the day I posted Les Rita Mitsouko‘s The No Comprendo. A record that is pure French-weirdo-pop genius. I love this song “Marcia Baila” and tragically it’s not on Comprendo, the only album of theirs that I have. I thought I should share it with you.

Keep up with Les Rita Mitsouko at their site.

My old pal and fellow Fool Jonathan Mudd has a new album! Here are the details straight from J-Mudd himself…

The music is now available through my brand-spanking-new website at http://www.muddmusic.com, where you can sample tracks, download MP3s and (best of all!) purchase the full-length CD.

Truth Lies contains 11 new songs I wrote over the last few years. Please give it a listen—I think you’ll find big melodies, big guitars, big beats…a few bright ideas…and maybe even a couple of happy accidents.

I had the great fortune to play with some incredible musicians on this album, including old friends like Greg Miller and Andrew Luthringer, who laid down monster bass grooves, and new friends like Jaime O’Connell, who beat the hell out of the drums, and Mark Williams, who contributed stinging slide guitar (and one funky cowbell).

The material was recorded in four different locations on two coasts, and then melded and mixed by Mark Williams at his great-sounding new Maryland studio, Sucker Punch Recording Co.

Check it out—and if you like what you hear, please tell a friend! Again, the web address is http://www.muddmusic.com.

Finally, for all you concert-going dudes and dudettes, I want to let you know that I’ve assembled a great band to get out there and play these songs live. Check my website for more information—we plan to hit the stage in the next few months.

"One Two (tickets) Oh My God!" We got in to see the Beastie Boys.

How ridiculously lucky can you get? This show was at a club that only holds a little over 900 people. It was announced only a day before tickets went on sale, and week before the show. I started loading the ticket page on a couple different computers right before 4 PM, along with a lot of other people. For the most part the site would not load at all after 4. Then, when it did I would get an error when I tried to buy tickets. About 10 minutes later it started saying “SOLD OUT.” I could not believe it. Took a minute to complain/tweet about it. Then, went back at it. Finally, I got through! And it was NOT sold out. Yes!

I wanted to go pretty bad, and my son Mars even more so. Mary said he got so nervous when I was trying to score tickets he couldn’t watch. He went to play his drums for a bit. That didn’t help my concentration.

I got the tickets. You want a shirt, bring money.

We got there over an hour in advance, and the line was already long. The cool thing is it appears the promoters and club did everything they could to keep it fair, and minimize ticket scalping. You could only buy two. Everybody’s tickets were “will call,” even if you got the few they had at the box office. You had to bring the card you used for the purchase and another picture ID. Once you got your tickets you had to go straight into the club. Despite all that I heard people in line with an extra ticket were getting offered crazy money.

I had no idea Biz Markie was going to be there. He DJ’d for about 20 minutes and it was awesome! He totally owned the crowd. His set went through a ton of old school hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s. And somewhat to my surprise the crowd was extra hip hop literate. The Biz kept fading the mix to let the crowd a capella through lines of Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, even some Bob Marley, and bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. Massively entertaining. “If you remember that one, I know you’ll remember this…”

Of course, he couldn’t finish without giving us a little from “Just a Friend.” Make SURE to watch this video again.

When the Beastie Boys finally came out it was to Biz Markie doing “The Biz vs. The Nuge” (Check Your Head). Perfect.

And I couldn’t believe they had Money Mark with them. Money Mark’s records get played as much as anything in my collection. He’s been a hero of mine for years. Later in the set Mike D asked Mark to come out from behind the keyboards to play “Mark on the Bus.” Brilliant. (Clip from a different show.)

And what about the Beastie Boys? Well, I don’t how it could have been any better. They were fun, funny and funky. They played everything from their earliest punk stuff to a couple brand new songs with something from just about every record, save for License to Ill. I loved every bit of it, but I was especially glad they did a bunch of their instrumentals like “Pow” and “Ricky’s Theme.”

Mix Master Mike put on an impressive show and really turned it out with a scratching solo to open the encore. They finished strong with “Sabotage” and it was time to go home.

A couple other highlights include AdRock giving the crowd dance lessons for the “Jerry Lewis” and the “Funky Penguin.” He’s got skills. And I’ll never forget Biz Markie joining the band to sing Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets.” The Biz took his shirt off and every person in the house pulled out their camera phone to capture the big man going natural.

But wait! There’s more. Thank you Flip owners.

“Sure Shot”

This one is for my beautiful wife Mary who loves musicals, especially the Sound of Music.

Ramones - Subterranean Jungle front cover

Back on track with the Ramones. This is a great one. I mentioned a long time ago that I bought Subterranean Jungle (1983) at the same time I got U2′s War. The counter jockey was all about U2 and in my hostile teenage punk rock I mind I took that as slap on the Ramones. Because the Ramones were never going to be huge, but they were special to me, then and now. I’ve outgrown my punk rock defensiveness and the Ramones continued to get respect. Too bad the core three members are not around to see it.

The record opens with a cover, totally manly move, of “Little Bit O’ Soul.” It’s a perfect choice for them and they rock it proper. There’s even another cover, “Time Has Come Today,” on side two. But the originals are even better! My favorites are “Psycho Therapy” and “In the Park.” And then there are some ’60s style pop ditties like “My-My Kind of a Girl” that are both incongruous and killer at the same time. But wait! There goes “Highest Trails Above” playing on my turn table now. Another favorite; it makes me want to grab my guitar. And I’ll mention the album closer “Everytime (sic) I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me think of You” just for the title.

Long live The Ramones!

Ramones - Subterranean Jungle back cover