Anyway, back to these tunes. Stereogum wrote something about Quinn Walker being a “band to watch” in like 2007 - and you guys, we should all be ashamed for not watching! It was probably just cause he forgot to tell us that he joined 3 other dudes and formed a band called “Suckers” but didn’t change his myspace profile. Whatever, I don’t care. Dude’s got somethin goin on, and I’m basically as stoked as I was when I accidentally bumped into Aunt Dracula’s myspace page (who, incidentally, played at The Smell last week and yours truly did not make a public appearance at the event. Did anyone go? What’d you think?)

Hey watch this (it’s pretty effing good if you can forgive it for sounding like sunset rubdown at times. not that i don’t like sunset rubdown. they’re just boring. this isn’t boring):

Lucky for you, I’m not being lazy today and I’m posting this JUST in time to give all of my faithful Brooklyn readers the info on where to catch these fucking Suckers this weekend - WITH YEASAYER (whom we are obviously also totally into here at the weapon).

Dude this shit’s too wordy. And I think I’m even confused about what I’m trying to tell you here. Basically - I’m done. Make your way to the Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 6th - aw crap, that’s tonight. Scratch that - here are some other Big Apple appointments you can make with Suckers.

Dec 18 2008 @ BELL HOUSE w/ Bell, Holy Hail + others, in Brooklyn
Jan 24 2009 @ THE STUDIO, WEBSTER HALL w/ Oxford Collapse in Manhattan

My syntax is as awkward as that photo. Buy the tunes of Quinn Walker at insound. The end. Oh wait but don’t skip over the official voodoo-EROS site cause they call t-shirts “frocks.” I love it.

DOWNLOADS:
Quinn Walker - Baby Neon
Quinn Walker - Babies

I’ve been away for like a gajillion years cause nothing has moved me enough to write about it. I think it’s fitting that my first post after such a long absence would have something to do with shit that totally sucks. I can not emphasize it enough: this TOTALLY sucks. I mean, what the FUCK is this shit? I wanted my friend Chris to draw mustaches on their faces in this photo, but I feel like the level of suck is obvious enough - no defacing required.

In the words of a friend - “this is the worst thing to happen to music” (i MIGHT actually take it that far too) and i, too, “hope they don’t breed.” ever.

Without. Further. Ado.

1. Visiting a friend in Macomb, IL:

2. Promoting the crap out of Buzznet’s first Big Story. It was about Twilight. You can find it here:

THE BIG STORY: Twilight

3. And last but not least, which will also bring plenty of updates to the weapon in the coming weeks, I’ve also been busy getting fired. Oops I mean, uhh, “laid off”. Whatever.

Aside from my excuses, here are 2 other things to note:

1. Obviously, I need help. If you like to write and like music, I would like to know about it. I can’t pay you (yet…) but I can probably hook you up with cool stuff and sometimes get you into shows or whatever. So if you wanna write for the weapon please email me - c4 at fantasticweapon dot com - if you are interested in joining my “team”.
2. I need a job. Wanna hire me??? Sweet deal. Email me at carrie.stern at fantastic weapon dot com, or add me to your network on linkedin.com.

That’s all the business for now, but before I bring you ANYTHING else, like news or other good bands, etc, I bring you my “I’m Back, Bitches, oh and Fuck a Job” playlist. Eff you if you think it sucks and thank you if you have a job for me. These are songs about having jobs, not having jobs, or by people who in real life probably wouldn’t have jobs. Unless slanging bud on the corner counts as a job.

1. Boomtown Rats - I Don’t Like Mondays
2. Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
3. The Offspring - Why Don’t You Get a Job?
4. Madonna - Material Girl
5. June Carter Cash - If I We’re A Carpenter
6. Walt Disney’s - The Work Song (Cinderella)
7. Joe Walsh - Life’s Been Good
8. Home Grown - Get Job

But think about it - if you were gonna be all alone for the rest of forever and you could only listen to one thing, would you really want that one thing to be My Bloody Valentine or Portishead, or some other really great record that will ultimately bum you the fuck out or drive you totally crazy? I don’t know about you, but I’d want some fucking FUN party music. Fat Mike and friends totally make fun party music, and I love that record. So I’m totally gonna go see ‘em when they play at the Henry Fonda in February, and you should probably go see ‘em wherever they play in your town - find your date on the list below, and listen to Linoleum while you’re at it:

DOWNLOAD:
NOFX - Linoleum

TOUR DATES:
10/15/08 New York, NY Irving Plaza SOLD OUT w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners, Shira Girl
10/16/08 New York, NY Irving Plaza SOLD OUT w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners, Break On Through
10/17/08 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners
10/18/08 Long Island, NY Crazy Donkey w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners, Break On Through
10/20/08 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Theater w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners
10/21/08 Pittsburgh, PA Club Zoo w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners
10/23/08 Buffalo, NY Town Ballroom w/ Dillinger Four, The Flatliners
10/24/08 Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head Tavern w/ Dillinger Four, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Flatliners
10/25/08 Richmond, VA Toad’s Place w/ Dillinger Four, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Flatliners
01/30/09 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
01/31/09 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee
02/03/09 San Diego, CA House of Blues
02/04/09 San Diego, CA House of Blues
02/06/09 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda
02/08/09 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda
02/10/09 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
02/11/09 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
02/13/09 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
02/19/09 Anaheim, CA The Grove
02/20/09 Agora Hills, CA The Canyon Club
02/22/09 Agora Hills, CA The Canyon Club
04/24/09 Birmingham, UK Academy
04/25/09 Dublin, Ireland Olympia Theatre
04/28/09 Newcastle, UK Academy
04/29/09 Leeds, UK Academy
05/01/09 Cardiff, UK Great Hall
05/02/09 London, UK Sheperds Bush Empire
05/03/09 London, UK Sheperds Bush Empire

Obligatory BUY NOW link: NOFX at insound.com

DOWNLOAD:
Bad Brains - Banned in DC

TOUR DATES:
Nov 4 2008 8:00P 9:30 Club Washington, DC - with N.E.R.D.
Nov 5 2008 8:00P Irving Plaza NYC
Nov 6 2008 8:00P Irving Plaza NYC
Nov 9 2008 8:00P Waterloo Park Austin, TX
Dec 6 2008 8:00P Hollywood Palladium Los Angeles, CA
Dec 7 2008 8:00P House Of Blues San Diego, CA

This is the early, early, early, fucking EARLY Thursday edition of the Flashback Friday thing I started a couple weeks ago. Actually, it’s really late since I didn’t do one last weekend. Six of one, guys. Six of one.

I’ve been pretty obsessed with old reggae and ska stuff for the past couple weeks and have revisited some old favorites that (I shit you not) I used to listen to 24 hours a day when I was 12. Namely, my favorite Eric Donaldson song - Cherry Oh Baby. That track is probably one of my absolute favorite songs ever, in fact, I remember listening to it most during the summer before 8th grade, while I sat around eating cheese, drinking diet coke, and lying about my age to stupid dudes on the internet with screennames like “PUNK17CA”. Dude, I had to get on the guest list for Home Grown shows at Old World! HAHA! Shut up! It was called the Wreck Room back then, bitches. I think. Fuck. I actually don’t really remember if that’s right. I’M GETTING OLD AND LOSING MY MEMORY.

Anyway, this started as a post about Eric Donaldson, but while I was snooping around the interwebz I found a Stones cover of the same song, and then got to thinking about other “Cherry” songs. Obviously, this lead to Neneh Cherry and I’ll be damned if I won’t jump at the chance to post the fucking Buffalo Stance, man. I mean, can you BLAME me? That song is RIDICK! But sorry dudes, Warrant got vetoed - they score wayyyyyy too high on the complete-and-total-shit-o-meter.

DOWNLOADS:
Rolling Stones - Cherry Oh Baby
Eric Donaldson - Cherry Oh Baby
Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
Marvin & Johnny - Cherry Pie

1. Bad Manners - Skinhead Love Affair
2. The Maytals - Monkey Man
3. Mark Ronson - Valerie feat. Amy Winehouse
4. Desmond Dekker - Israelites
5. Equals - Police On My Back
6. The Pioneers - Long Shot Kick de Bucket
7. Beat Union - Disconnected
8. Sublime - Badfish
9. Judge Dread - Skinhead
10. Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain
11. The Selector - On My Radio
12. Bobby McFerrin - Don’t Worry Be Happy

     Does anybody else think Beat Union sounds like Elvis Costello?

Kerli’s Scream Awards performance was nothing short of massive sensory overload. It included background projections of stunning visual landscapes projected, massive amounts of fake snow & glitter (I could’ve sworn I felt the temperature drop when snow started pumping into the amphitheater…), and interpretive back-up dancers wearing freaky white masks - with the volume at a brain-massaging decibel level. My thoughts: Bjork. Disagree? Take another listen - go watch the ‘Walking on Air’ video and then tell me you disagree. (As long as we’re on the subject of videos, does the video for her song ‘Love is Dead‘ remind anybody else of a certain Heart Shaped Box?).

What it boils down to: her sound is pretty spectacular and her performance at the Scream Awards was utterly fantastic. Kerli is the next big pop sensation, mark my words. What did you think of the televised version of Kerli’s Scream Awards performance? Did you love it or hate it? Do you hear any Bjork similarities, or is Kerli just another Britney wannabe?

DOWNLOADS:
Kerli - Walking On Air

Check out more photos of Kerli that I took at the Scream Awards on Buzznet (before I got kicked out…) and stay tuned for a Smashing Pumpkins bootleg. No joke.

Sorry I forgot to give you guys the skinny on this all weekend long - I was busy on the red carpet at the 2008 Scream Awards, interviewing Gerard Way, snapping pics of Billy Corgan, Marilyn Mason, and Twiggy, and watching the Smashing Pumpkins play. I’m sure you understand. But on Friday as I was leaving work and checking myspace bulletins on my Blackberry I saw something that nearly made me shit myself. The first annual Part Time Punks festival will feature headliners A CERTAIN RATIO. Yea, this apparently ain’t no joke, folks. In addition to the Factory Records legends, who haven’t played in years, are the following: PYLON, MEDIUM MEDIUM, LOVE IS ALL, VIVIAN GIRLS, THE NIGHTINGALES, SAVAGE REPUBLIC, NERVOUS GENDER, ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI, THE URINALS, THE WILD STARES, MAGIC BULLETS, GRIMBLE GRUMBLE, THE MUSLIMS, WARPAINT, SOFTBOILED EGGIES, NODZZZ plus DJ’s DAVID J (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets), DAVE NEWTON (Mighty Lemon Drops), CHUCK WARNER (Messthetics/Hyped 2 Death) , and DAN SELZER (Acute Records).

Now that your jaw has reached the floor, get ready to lose your shit: THE FIRST 100 TICKETS ARE ONLY 14 BUCKS. I shit you not. I’d probably pay like 40 for A Certain Ratio only - but they’re throwing in all that other good shit and cutting my price down by like 75%

This madness ensues on November 16th at the Echo and the Echoplex from 2pm to 2am. Tickets are available now on ticketweb.com.

DOWNLOADS:
Love Is All - A More Uncertain Future
To get the A Certain Ratio track visit the last mixtape.

As always, buy stuff from insound.