New on the Range

Loads of great stuff on tap for Range Life this rainy week. I've got shiny new tracks from LCD Soundsystem, Holy Fuck, Band of Horses, Frightened Rabbit, Gil Scott-Heron, Coco Rosie, Surfer Blood, Beach Fossils, Interpol, The Album Leaf, and Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt. Plus great new sounds from Take, Nosaj Thing, Baths, Tobacco, Delorean, and more.

Also, of course, continuing exploration of the new and amazing records from The National, Broken Social Scene, and Flying Lotus.

Tune in 5 to 7 mountain time Wednesday, and 1 to 3 Friday, on www.radioboise.org.

Haunted Household

Brilliant and fun photo-illustration essay by Christophe Niemann in the NY Times today. Your homes are full of mischievous hobgoblins. Embrace them.

World Cup

Sorry for posting ads, but if you haven't seen this one, you should. It's REALLY cool. And if it doesn't get you torqued up for the World Cup's start next month, well, YOUR football will start in a few short months...

Pippo's Got It Right

“I don’t even know what happened, I’ve been racing the Giro all day!” said stage winner Filippo Pozzato (Katusha). “Journalists only ask about cycling when there is a doping scandal. No one pays attention to the positive changes the sport has made. Cycling is cleaner now than the old days. We have accepted all the rules imposed from us from the outside, unlike other sports. You can see cycling has changed. The riders are more tired, the race cannot be controlled like before, young riders are coming to the forefront. Why don’t journalists write about that?”

Read more in VeloNews.

And he's right. Races are more volatile, performances less consistent, younger riders mixing it up, teams less likely to survive intact and control the race for days upon days. These riders seem more human. And while it may not yield another Lance (not going there... not going there...) it makes for some great, hopefully clean racing.

It comes down to this: 1) Assume all riders dope, have a moral problem with that, and stop watching the sport at its highest levels, or 2) Hope they don't dope, assume that most will, and enjoy the spectacle of racing, hoping your own favorites don't turn up a positive, and hoping to be pleasantly surprised at the decline of rider busts.

Guess I'll go with 2.

Munchies

I'd never seen VBS.tv before, but after following a link to watch this show, I poked around the site and found some pretty cool stuff. All original programming, news, food, culture, skating, and Spike Jonze is the creative director.

Future of TV? Just another channel? No idea, but this show made me hungry.

F*#k Floyd

If you see this guy, punch him in the face.

Landis has admitted to doping and lying about it, and implicitly to bilking his fans out of thousands of dollars to defend his lies.

What a dick. What a total douchebag a-hole.

I'll be thoughtful and reasonable about this another time. Right now I'm crushed, and pissed off, and totally disillusioned. I should have known, right? Should have been there with everyone else who said they're all doping. Now I know.

Road Bikes

It's a cold, wet, wild time in the Giro d'Italia this year. Vino and Basso are back, and Evans is going great. But today's stage turned everything upside down. Here in Boise I'm watching every single stage on Universal Sports--channel 39-2 with the rabbit ears, baby. It's great.

This morning's stage was insane. A huge break got away and kept going, all but dooming the leaders and giving second chances to those that have been dismissed. Sastre could even be back in contention.

The weather's added drama makes the race seem all that much more epic.

But it's much nicer here in Boise.

I got on my road bike today, for the first time in many weeks. The trails have been calling too loudly to ride on the road.


But I'm glad I did--we had MUCH better weather than they had in Italy today. The foothills are green, the river's way up, and I had a gorgous spin out to Lucky Peak and back. Hi, spring.

The kind of stuff the UPS guy leaves on our doorstep these days...

1 Month, 32 Nations...

Boise Bike Week!

Check out the schedule at http://www.boisebikeweek.org/index.html. And make sure to hit the Block Party on Friday. RadioBoise will be there!

Fat Tuesday

One more day...

Happy Friday

This is the coolest music video I've seen maybe ever. Out of hand. James Murphy is the king.

The new LCD Soundsystem record is out on Tuesday. Get it.

The National + Sufjan on Dave

The National played "I'm Afraid of Everyone" on the Letterman show the other night ago and brought along Sufjan Stevens to sing backup. Pretty fantastic.

Grabbed from the We All Wont Someone to Shout For blog.

New on the Range

It's an embarrassment of riches this week on the Range. New records out from Flying Lotus, Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, The Hold Steady, and... um... Oh yeah, The National. And that's just the big ones. I've also got some great new stuff from Interpol, Take, Team Ghost, The Radio Dept., Trans Am, Sleigh Bells, The Ponys... As I said. It's almost embarrassing.

Tune in to www.radioboise.org from 5 to 7pm mst Wednesday, and 1 to 3 Friday, for all your new favorite music.

The National, Live and Video

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

Happy Friday

Flying Lotus

Must get to the Record Exchange today. Flying Lotus dropped Cosmogramma on Tuesday and I still haven't made it down. Must get this. Today. Plus, Broken Social Scene's new one came out this week. Not to mention the Hold Steady. And the New Pornographers. Time to buy some music.

Short Story Month 2010

The Emerging Writers Network is celebrating the short story all May long. The Network is run by Dan Wickett, an insightful reviewer and literary activist. He loves to read and write about fiction, and reading his site is addictive. Especially during May. The month is more an awareness and an appreciation than a contest or a party.

So read more short stories. Talk about them, think about them. Write one. That's what I plan to do--start and finish one this month. Seems feeble, but if you've written short stories you'll know that it's no small goal.

And if you're so inclined, send me the names of your favorite short stories, or good ones that you've read lately. Comment here or e-mail, whichever. Let's talk about short stories.

Non-Negotiable

Love him or hate him... he doesn't give a sh*t. In amongst the groans and eye-rolls are some important and indisputable points. And it's funny.

Galaxie 500

Pitchfork has an oral history of Galaxie 500 posted today, including interviews with Dean, Damon, and Naomi, as well as a whole bunch of other folks. Great reading. I foresee a lengthy revisitation of this band's albums in my near future.