- Death Cab For Cutie are fighting back. On the verge of releasing a new
album with a new lineup for the first time in band history, the indie rock
favorites are describing their new release as "sounding like Death Cab For
Cutie, in the best way" and say it’s part of an effort to "win
back" fans lost with the release of 2011’s “Codes And Keys.” The album is
due out next year with frontman Ben Gibbard saying working with producer Rich
Costey was "incredible" and "a valuable resource.” "Rich
isn’t the kind of person who might hear your demo and then come back to you
saying things like, 'I’m imagining a wall of strings here and a drum machine
and we’ll get Janelle Monáe to sing backup!' No, he was not like that,"
Gibbard explained. "He wasn’t trying to make us sound like Muse. He was
trying to help us sound like Death Cab For Cutie, in the best way."
Gibbard, a favorite among emo nerds over the years, said he believes the new
album is superior to “Codes and Keys” and added that if the record “turned
anybody off, I feel pretty strongly that this one could win them back. There
are threads in this one that connect back to our earliest stuff that people
love." When the album drops, it will mark the official start of the band’s
life minus guitarist and producer Chris Walla, who played his last live show in
September and leaves the group after 15 years. Walla produced Death Cab's first
seven studio albums and announced his departure in a post that read in part, “I
think I long for the unknown. It might be that simple. I will miss being a
quarter of this band, and will support whatever course Death Cab for Cutie
chooses from here. I am profoundly grateful to Ben, Nick, and Jason, for the
experiences that define my adult life. Truly grateful, beyond words.” A new
producer, a new lineup, yet a return to familiar sounds. Should be interesting………
- Anyone who thinks the Third Reich, Nazism and the
Holocaust are simply historical entities in the distant past for the world
should probably reconsider in light of the fact that Austria is still trying to
right its past wrongs when it comes to how it handled the aftermath of one of
the largest genocides in human history. The central European nation unveiled a
massive stone memorial this week honoring those who had
fled military duty rather than serve under the Nazi regime. A fairly heavy and
dry ceremony, it was attended by municipal dignitaries and some of those who
had deserted the Wehrmacht. They came to see the official debut of the grey
stone monument, just steps from the presidential offices, which is the first of
its kind in the Austrian capital. The memorial feature a large “X” on its
surface to represent the tens of thousands of deserters who were executed under
Hitler and in his remarks at the ceremony, President Heinz Fischer apologized
for his country's treatment of soldiers who deserted Hitler's army during World
War II as traitors. Fischer, making a fairly obvious public relations ploy,
explained that labeling the Austrian deserters that way for decades after the
conflict is "something for which one has to apologize and shame
himself." The term himself is something of a misnomer, as the president is
far from the only person to refer to the deserters as such, but doing it
publicly at a ceremony in Vienna is a nice way to get the ball rolling. Now, if
Austria could only apologize for being the country that actually gave noted Jew
murderer and world’s worst human even Adolf Hitler, it could really gain some
positive traction………
- Count Chocula is a damn good cereal. It may not be
Booberry Crunch, but it’s definitely a step ahead of Franken Berry in the
General Mills cartoon cereal world. It’s also a cereal in demand in one
Colorado City, even if the people selling their entire stockpile of the
marshmallow-centric breakfast bowl filler didn’t know why boxes were flying off
the shelves. Boxes began disappearing from two Albertsons stores in the city at
a rapid rate and mystified store officials were at a loss to explain their
departure. The mystery became clear at the end of the week when local craft
brewer Black Bottle Brewery stepped up to explain why it has been procuring as
much Count Chocula as possible. According to the brewery, it is buying the
cereal in order to make a small-batch beer. Black Bottle General Manager Steve
Marrick said the brewery’s “Cerealiously” beer series will include the
choco-holic cereal, following the same path as brews built around other cereals
such as Golden Grahams, Reese’s Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. “We put the
cereal into a hop back so it doesn’t get into the beer,” Marrick said. “We did
it as a joke at first, but the beer turned out well.” Cerealiously Count
Chocula will hit store shelves for its limited run on Oct. 30, one day before
Halloween. That makes perfect sense for a beer made with a cereal featuring a
vampire-like count who jives well with the spirit of the non-holuday. Black Bottle
plans to continue its series in the months ahead with Lucky Charms for St.
Patrick’s Day and Cap’n Crunch for another occasion, so maybe an enterprising
citizen will think ahead, buy all of the aforementioned brands and attempt to
sell them back to the brewery at an increased cost. The good news for the
locals is that the brewery only bought all of the Count Chocula from the two
Albertsons stores and the cereal is still available at other grocers around
town………
- Golf is about to fade even further into irrelevance than it
does at any point in the year, with the PGA Tour season all but over and the
stars of golf heading into winter hibernation. So while it might seem bad that
the PGA of America president is
acting like a snot-noted fifth grader bullying some dork who knocked over his
books in the locker room after gym class, just view it through prism of keeping
the sport sort of relevant and see how the world changes. Enter PGA president
Ted Bishop, who lit up Ian Poulter with a very mature crack back after Poulter
ripped Nick Faldo and Tom Watson as Ryder Cup captains. Faldo, who with six
majors is regarded as Britain's greatest player, was the last European captain
to lose in the event back in 2008 and Watson and his eight major titles oversaw
the U.S. getting curb-stomped at Gleneagles last month. Poulter has been a rock
star in the Ryder Cup with a 14-2 record and he just so happens to have a new book, “No
Limits,” to promote. Aside from its wholly unoriginal title, the book contains little
of note but it is big propped up by its author ripping two of golf’s legends
for their losing Ryder Cup tactics. That was enough to set Bishop off and he tweeted
to Poulter, "Faldo's record stands by itself. Six majors and all-time RC
points. Yours vs. His? Lil Girl." Because that wasn’t enough bashing,
Bishop added a longer message on his Facebook page in which he wished that athletes
who had "lesser records or accomplishments in a sport never criticized the
icons." He wrapped up his message with another classy reference to Poulter
as a girl: “Really? Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess.
C'MON MAN!" As so many public figures find out when they post something
opinionated on social media, Bishop allegedly "realized that his post was
inappropriate and promptly removed it,” according to the PGA of America.
Poulter, on his way to an event in China, replied on Twitter, "I guess we
can only have opinions if you won a major or 6. Is being called a 'lil girl'
meant to be derogatory or a put down? That's pretty shocking and disappointing,
especially coming from the leader of the PGA of America." Good to talk
about you one final time this year, golf………
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