Sharky the drum guy.

Has the coolest shirt in Racine.

Holy brain-eating amoebas, batman!

Brains!

Ryan Adams at the Barrymore

Ryan Adams at the Barrymore
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

Great performance... And quite possobly the biggest disco ball I have ever seen in my life!

I shouldn't read the news anymore

It just makes me hate the human race more every day. Indian uber-babe, Shilpa Shetty (she was the one affected by the UK Big Brother racism scandal last year. Yeah, I'll admit I saw a bunch of them, it had Dirk fuckin' Benedict, man- the original Starbuck!) is still suffering the side effects of hardcore religious nuts in India thinking it was obscene that she got a peck on the cheek from Richard Gere in April in public. For real, he didn't shove a gerbil up his ass or nuthin'...

Between that and Janet Jackson's titty slip (during a game where almost everyone in the world was watching drug-fueled millionaires beat the living shit out of each other), the burden of stupidity almost becomes too much to bear.

What has "keeping informed" ever done for me except make me realize that we're all surrounded by assholes?


Shilpa? I hardly even know her!

Night of the Living Homeless

Best South Park episode since the "Lord of the Rings" one (well the goobacks one was pretty good too. It was a good appetite-whetter for the season premiere next week.

Anyway, it's a classic and they keep the preaching to a minimum (which is unusual for the past few seasons. The Wikipedia page on the episode has a good list of all the Romero homages as well.

More on America's Low Price Leader

Ben's right, Wal-Mart does kind of suck, but how many people who find the store morally reprehensible actually don't shop there? I'm not a big fan of the store (mostly because their stores don't seem quite as clean as Target or even the old warhorse everyone used to love to beat up on, K-Mart) but I've still bought a few things there in the past year. I can avoid it, but I haven't.

I don't find their wages unacceptable or the fact that they don't insure their employees that big a deal (hey, I've worked a bunch of jobs that paid shit and where I had to find my own insurance, it's not up to your employer or the state to be your fucking nanny all the time.) I'm even okay with them breaking some child labor laws (in small town Wisconsin that happens on farms constantly) as long as the children (in reality, we're talking about 15-year olds not pre-pubescents) get paid for their work. But I can't stomach their hiring of illegal aliens (which just contributes horribly to the overall problem) and not paying overtime to hourly employees (which is theft of time and effort). That stuff is bullshit, but is it happening at every store? And should individual stores pay the price because of the laziness of other stores or their corporate masters?

Major corporations are awesome because they've given us great deals, but we pay the price with crapola customer service and a sick reliance on cheap (ie, Chinese) labor. Free markets kick ass but in the end it's up to us to make the right decisions to not support these places with our dollars.

You're God-damned right I'll take a "Never Buy at Wal-Mart Again" pledge. I would love to pay more at Mom and Pop stores and buy less useless shit because of it. I would love that feeling.

What other corporations engage in evil dealings that I need avoid? Is that the point? Can I ever buy gasoline again? How about Coca-Cola? Taco Bell? How much are we willing to sacrifice in convenience for our "ethics"?

I agree with some of what the Anti-Walmarters have to say and I believe mega-corporations are destined to lose their humanity as shareholders search for naked profit (which isn't a rip on free enterprise! Don't paint my ass pink.) But I think that most of the statements I hear from people that despise that Arkansas smiley face (and I don't mean Billary) are bullshit posturing.

You get what you pay for

I finished my night after the gym at Wal Mart, where the cashier was out-of-line rude to me. But, what am I going to do, ask for a discount? I hear Karma's a bitch. Well, at least I can choose whether or not I go back tomorrow.

Another reason to love Walgreen's

I was just logging in to refill a prescription (my psych meds, of course :P) and one of the featured items for today's sale was a shag throe, basically a waterproof rug for getting buck nasty.


The picture isn't very sexy, but c'mon, it's called a "Shag Throe"!

1982

I was hoping that fsn would take notice of my shirt from beatnik's in belleville ill. Unfortunately, no cardinal fans have yet taken offense either. If you don't know east st louis, I won't ruin it for you, just promise me you'll look it up.

Sausage! Man, we gotta get these guys for a sunspot show!

What a absolutely beautiful place to watch baseball. We're hopin to see Bernie take another slide after Fielder's hr

Black Snake Moan

We went to a wedding and did some preparations for a new recording this weekend, so the most music-related thing I did was probably watch Black Snake Moan, which I didn't expect to like, but I thought it was great.

Yeah, the story's kind of unbelievable, but it's not quite as exploitative as I expected (Christina Ricci spends most of the film in her skivvies and shows off her snoobs a couple of times) but it's way more sad than it is scintillating. Her character's sexuality is so unhealthy, she's tempting in an animalistic, kinda gross way. So, it's not what you might expect.

Anyway, good performances all around, Samuel L. Jackson has a great blues voice and even MJ-wannabe Justin Timberlake does an alright job (he gets to do a lot more than just "Dick in a Box" with his character.)

A really enjoyable film with good music scenes and some surprises, it's definitely worth a rental and by more than just adolescent boys who wanna see Wednesday from The Addams Family get nasty in slow motion.

Some things never change

I heard an ad last night as I was driving through Waukesha for Rooters. The lineup they were pumping was Ryan McIntyre (we used to play with his band exit) and One Ton Banana. I was so please that One Ton Banana was still around because the singer drank shots of tequila with us out in the van outside of points east for Halloween and he tossed his cookies. Devious lost his stuffing too as the scarecrow.

Anamalien on drums and amsoil on the wall!

A picture of our new sponsor on the wall of Quaker Steak and Lube. I've never had the lube here, but the boneless dead chicken is titties. Ask Wendy about the atomic wings. I think when she signed the waiver, she gave her mouth lining for science.

100 oz of beer. Mission accomplished

Heroes

I didn't think I had time for another TV show in my life now that Torchwood started on BBC America, but I rented the first DVD of Heroes last night just to check it out (I try to give every genre series at least one chance (and that's one chance too many in the case of the pooptastic Flash Gordon)) and I loved it.

Dawson's favorite non-dairy whipped topping from Varsity Blues who used to remind me of Laura Palmer, does her best acting yet, the Japanese guy is awesome, and it's nice to see the dude from Profit get a job. Plus Shaft is there in a coma, just waiting to wake up and start satisfying ladies and fighting The Man!

Criticisms: The thugs after Ali Larter were still a little too "Network TV", all the HBO and Showtime watching has made me appreciate really, really bad guys. The heroin addict artist is a by-the-numbers, and Profit's flying brother is kind of a weenie. We'll see what happens in Episode 2.

Anyway, I know I'm a year behind everyone else, but I didn't want to miss the boat on something good like I did on Lost and I wanna get into this before it invariably jumps the shark.



Once I wake up, I'm gonna kick your ass. Can you dig it?

Amateur night at the terrace.

Mystery Goo

We have mystery goo in the Sunspot van all the time, but that's usually just uneaten fruit taking cover in one of the vehicle's many food-hiding spots.

But this stuff that's showing up in San Francisco basements seems a touch more sinister.

Have they tried putting it in the toaster yet and cranking up some Jackie Wilson?

More Life Imitates Art: Pina Colada Song!

except there was no laughter when they finally met, just bitter, bitter divorce.


Escape (the Pina Colada Song). Lyrics

Life Imitates Art: Andromeda Strain?

Eight people are ill after a meteorite crashes in Peru. So it begins!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/09/19/peru.meteorite.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

One Hundred Days strong

Yesterday was a milestone for me. I am proud to say that I met my goal of working out every day for one hundred consecutive days! The first 50 days were cardio only; the last 50 days were cardio plus strength training.

I think I've successfully ingrained this habit so it no longer feels like a chore- just a part of life, like getting up in the morning.

Anyway, the day just kind of came and went, unceremoniously, so Im thinking I'll have so something fun to celebrate my victory! Woohooo! I wonder what the next 100 days will bring?

Professor Banzai?

Holy shit, I was just at the gym and I turn on the History Channel, right? And it's their "Engineering an Empire" series and there's smart people telling me about historical shit and who shows up as one of the talking heads? Fuckin' Robocop, man!

Yeah, Stevens Point-born Peter Weller has graduated from 24 (where he was a pretty good bad guy) to be a professor at Syracuse University. I'd write more about it and the whole Buckaroo Banzai relationship, but it looks like Wired already took care of that with a story on him earlier this year. So, I don't have much to say about it, except that it's pretty fricking cool.


Study hard, or there'll be... trouble.

I forgot how awesome Rodney Branigan is

I was just doing my usual perusal of Weird America and found a feature on Rodney Branigan who we performed with a couple of years ago in St. Louis. His one man guitar show is exceptional and that link gives a good taste of it. I thought that he and his wife were positively charming and his two guitar trick is finger-numbingly spectacular.

Also, since I have roommates who love the World of Warcraft, I thought I'd include this article about a dude who died after a three-day gaming binge. I haven't done much online gaming since the days of Quake Deathmatch (I was even in a clan, Dominion UK, but all my friends were better at Team Fortress than I was.) I could spend hours playing Quake, but even I used to take a break (usually to rub one out using the UW's super-fast Resnet connection, completely disregarding their educational usage policy (unless you count Mr. Skin as educational.)) Anyway, this poor bastard's death just serves as a reminder to leave the cave every once in awhile to get some fresh air.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/15/07 @ Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI

The Buskers at Mad Planet

The Buskers at Mad Planet
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

They are rocking hard as ever! And wow, I must say that drum set is HOT!

wisynoil.com

You guys might have noticed a new banner ad on the blog and the homepage. And that's because (for those of you that haven't seen the video podcast) we've taken on WISYNOIL.COM as a sponsor of the band. We spend a lot of time in the van and the products that WISYNOIL.COM provides us with save us gas, time, and money.

It's a made in Wisconsin product that's good for the environment and our wallets, so it's a win-win!

Miller Park rules!

Miller Park rules!
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

I'm at the Brewers vs Reds game and the Brew Crew is 2 points behind... Still 2 innings left though and anyway, Miller Park never fails to impress me!

She's 12 and She's on Prozac...

This Mother of the Year snuck Prozac in her daughter's applesauce!

It brings a whole new meaning to "Yo Spike! You got the Mott's?"

Chocolate Rain, Where The Hell Have I Been?

I thought that Chocolate Rain was just a Chad Vader thing, but man have I been out of the loop. This shit is everywhere. Anyway, I haven't felt this out of touch since I didn't know what Pokemon was.

Anyway, here's the original "Chocolate Rain" video.

And here's the Chad Vader one...

And here's one specifically for Total Recall fans!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 64

Hanging out and rocking at the Southern Comfort Music Experience in Madison, WI on September 8th, 2007 and after JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse, WI on September 9th, 2007.

Direct download link: http://www.sunspotmusic.com/roadmania/sunspot_rm_64.m4v

EDIT: I didn't realize that I copied that clip to the beginning until after I uploaded it, I almost wet myself. Sometimes you get happy accidents...

But I saw the Earth destroyed...

on Doctor Who in the first season of the new series.

But the NYT has a story today about the potential for the Earth surviving when the Sun goes kablooey in five billion years. I kinda hope it does all burn up, because if we can't think of a way to get the hell out of here by that point, we deserve whatever we get.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/8/07 @ JB's Speakeasy, La Crosse, WI

AI for real?

Yeah, the Spielberg/Kubrick mashup from 2001 was a snoozer (though even I would take Jude Law for a pleasure droid (but I'd prefer Daryl Hannah)), but Zeno, the artificial boy, is almost available for commercial consumption.

According to the creator, "It sees you and recognizes your face. It learns your name and can build a relationship with you."

Number one, that's really badass, androids are awesome (except for Lore) and I can't wait to hang out with one.

But number two, it's not like we're that great at human interaction, is it already time to move on to artificial creations? Well, according to theists, we're artificial already, but that's not the point. Technology does, indeed, kick ass, but I hate the feeling that we keep retreating from dealing with each other. People stay home and watch DVDs instead of going to the movies (which, I kinda understand because I rented Hannibal Rising last night and I wouldn't have spent $10 on that disappointment, either) and most people have no idea who their neighbors are (at least I don't and I know few people who spend any time with the humans who live only a hundred feet away.) Connecting with other people is what it's all about (no one says they should have spent more time with their Xbox on their deathbed) and we're still wired for physical human connections. We're not evolved to talk to people over Myspace (and if they don't ever make their UI better, we never will), our bodies still require that tactile and visual association that only face-to-face can bring. Yeah, androids are freakin' sweet and maybe it's just because I want to encourage people to come to more live shows and associate and party and be part of the community, but why bother with an artificial connection when we probably have a real live one a few feet from us?


And he looks like Pokemon or some shit.

Zep Reunion?

Oh fuck, does this mean we'll have to hear "Heartbreaker" and "Whole Lotta Love" on the radio MORE?

Sure, there was a time in my life where I thought they rocked and you know I love all that Tolkien Misty Mountain mystical shit, but Sweet Zombie Jesus, don't let them play any more Led Zeppelin on the radio. Lazer (which is now the lameass "Hog" and still plays Led Zeppelin 8 times a day) and QFM (which is now some smooth jazz bullshit) played so much Zep that the very thought of that shirtless Robert Plant screech makes me cringe. If you think The Police reunion tour was expensive, can you imagine what tickets to a Led Zeppelin reunion would cost?


Man, I used to have this poster in my room.

Well, at least Milwaukee has 102.1 now, which is thankfully Zeppelin-free. I'm conflicted about hating on Led Zeppelin, but I just can't help it. They've been played enough, it's time to let these songs go to the Undying Lands and make room on the radio for something fucking else besides the soundtrack to Baby Boom Tail Enders' original backseat antics. It's like the 1970's never ended, and yes, I understand that people want to relive their high school glory days and that music just doesn't mean the same when you get older and the desire to find new stuff lessens. And the teenage population of the 1960's and 70's was three times bigger than it is now, so of course they're going to be the ones who are marketed to.

It's this glamorized and glorified adolescence (better remembered than experienced) that marketing constantly plays on to manipulate us to buy more shit. If your teenage years are the best years of your life, then why keep going when they're done? Isn't it better to flame out when you're in your peak? Why are we idolizing a time of life when most people were fucking idiots? Just that we buy shit and keep the economy moving? Is that worth having to relive 1977 over again on the radio every single day? Dark Side of the Moon still sells a shit-ton of copies every year. It's a pretty good album, but there's not enough grass in the world to make it deserve this many sales thirty-four years after its release. I'm not saying it's not an alright record (it is, except for "Us and Them", that song blows), but where's our Dark Side? What are the albums released in the past five years that will sell like AC/DC, Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd do and be on the radio all the time like they are today? Please don't tell me that we're stuck as a generation with an anthem of disaffection as our signature. That's kinda depressing because I'd much rather have a song that stood FOR something rather than AGAINST everything. Oh well, at least it has distorted guitars. Imagine if your anthem was "Candy Shop".


TO SAY NO TO CLASSIC ROCK!

Tron 2

We'll finally get a sequel twenty-five years later. I hope it's starring this guy...

Cap Times Mention

Thanks to Rob Thomas of the Capital Times for mentioning our set (in particular "Scott Bakula") at the SoCo Music Experience:

http://www.madison.com/tct/blogs/thebubbler/233065

More SocoMX pics

Courtesy of Dane101 and taken by Phil Ejercito. There's one of Ben mid-pick slide that you can't miss. It's like he's posing for it!

Castle Wolfenstein: The Movie

A Castle Wolfenstein movie from the guy that helped write Pulp Fiction?? Awesome!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/8/07 @ SoCo Music Experience, Madison, WI

More SoCo Fest pics!

Devious got some great shots of our set at the Southern Comfort Music Experience Saturday:

Check them out here!

SO CO YO

Thanks for coming out last night!

Sick puppies are awesome!

Just the right mix of cool and genuine. And they cover Muse!

Del Mar jammin at SoCo Music Experience.

SoCo Music Experience Setup

SoCo Music Experience Setup
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

We're at Willow Island, about to load in. Lots of action- tents going up, sound checks, and SoCo everywhere! Woooohoooo!

Today's the day!

Looks like the weather is going to be perfect for today's outdoor festival!

We'll hit the Limelight stage at 6:30 PM sharp. Come on down... It's FREE!



After the SoCo fun, we'll jet (okay... van...) to La Crosse to rock with The Songs For at JB's Speakeasy:



It's a good day for rock... I can just feel it!

RIP Madeleine L'Engle

The author of A Wrinkle in Time died yesterday at 88 years old. Man, I frickin' loved that book, here's a cheers to her.

"I couldn't have done it without the drugs."

Wow, this story on one of polygamist cult leader, Warren Jeffs' "Lost Boys", is one of the most provocative and honest pieces of journalism I've read in awhile. Kudos to CNN for an excellent profile.

Rush in Milwaukee I dont mean to sound like a queer or nuthin, but I think Geddy Lee is frickin sweet!

Three Cool Things

When I was just doing some mindless browsing, I came across Whitley Strieber's blog, Unknown Country, which is fairly badass in its own right. The other was that his new book is called, 2012: The War for Souls. And that's doubly cool because we just wrote a song with that same name (albeit without the whole war for souls thing.)

For those of you who don't remember Whitley Strieber, you probably remember this bookcover:


That book and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, embedded The Greys in human consciousness for at least my generation.

And the third cool thing, Captain Jack is back! Torchwood starts this weekend on BBC America! Don't forget that the actor that plays him, John Barrowman, has a sister that writes for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, yeah, even cooler. Now, if they'd only show Doctor Who Confidential on the Sci-Fi Channel instead of shit like Mansquito...


Ladies, your ratings just went up.

ssa

I think I saw Jeremiah Smith coming ou of this place.

Jott Blog Post

I am testing out the blogging capabilities of Jott through blogger, lets see if this works.
Click here to listen

Powered by Jott.com - Try it at 1 (866) JOTT123 -

mmmmmm

Half price magaritas at laredos. So tasty! Notice I didn't spell it like Fergie!

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This

But in 1967, Hillary was pretty hot.

Sunspot in Madhouse Monthly

Thanks to the guys in Madhouse Monthly for checking out our August show at The Annex. They put up some great pictures the other week, but also wrote about the show in the September issue of their magazine. You can pick up a copy in any music store in Madison or you can see the whole issue on the Madhouse Monthly Myspace blog.

For those of you who kinda hate Myspace and don't want anything to do with it (understandably, but it's a necessary evil for bands), here's the article:

More Moreau

Animal-human hybrids seem to creep up every few months... or is it just me?

SoCo

Alright, everyone that's known me for awhile, knows that Southern Comfort is my whiskey of choice, which makes it perfect that we're performing at the Southern Comfort Music Experience this weekend in Madison. We'll be on the Limelight stage (which is for the local bands, where there's a backline in place and we don't require the setup of the national acts.) But we're a three-piece, so filling up that stage and making the show visually as well as musically interesting is gonna be our task to make sure that everyone who comes to the show gets a great show from us. We'll have a few tricks up our sleeve, but if anyone has any ideas, we're always interested I hearing them, because we want to make it a kickass show as well as performance.

Ah, SoCo. I don't wanna embarrass anybody but let's picture someone drinking almost a whole bottle of Southern Comfort and then that someone's not-completely digested dinner all over a kitchen floor in the middle of a backrub party (don't ask about that part), and the backrub partygoers slipping and sliding on said kitchen floor and a couple of them getting a full face of it.

Let's say that someone's name rhymes with Sven and he plays guitar in a band whose name rhymes with Funslot and you might get the idea.

Anyway, so Sven doesn't touch the stuff much anymore, but I love it. Somewhere in the late 90's it replaced vodka as my favorite liquor and I couldn't be happier they're sponsoring the event. When we did the DUI training session with the police last year, it was Southern Comfort that fueled my fooling of the police officers 2 out of the 6 times they tested me!

Spiderman 3 at the drive in in Jefferson (or as the guy from the Duck In calls it, the fingerbowl)