MP3s and Political Commentary - Dump In a Box and Mark it Guaranteed

One more time, I couldn't resist...

2006-05-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Because she said so, so here you go.

Dr. DIB: I retired DIB today.

Mrs. DIB: WHAT?!
you still have time you ho
ppl check your page
you have web friends (she's so cute... she means Moe and Craig!)

Dr. DIB: yeah, but i just don't have time for it...
Dr. DIB: check it out for yourself, i haven't been posting regularly, and i feel bad about having it up there but not being updated. like i'm letting people down.

Dr. DIB: it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Mrs. DIB: put that on your page then
that quote

DIB - RIP ..... or is it?

2006-05-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well, things are winding down for me here in Los Angeles. I'm currently finishing up my Ph.D. thesis, and will be known as Dr. DIB. As a result, I've had no time to work on this blog in any capicity. I've really enjoyed doing it, though, and I met some cool people and got a lot of interest. There were many things I still wanted to do with this blog, but I just don't have time, anymore.

Mrs. DIB and I have decied that we're going to travel the world for a while, once I graduate. Since I'll be MIA indefinitely, I hereby announce my retirement.

Thanks for the memories, and who knows... maybe in a year, when I'm back in the world, Dr. and Mrs. DIB will resurrect. Until then, enjoy one last piece of shit, packaged, and sold to the American public with a guarantee like it's some precious gadget. This one, from USA Today.

Note to self: Stop calling al-queda headquarters.

DIB out.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-04-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

My first post, and a new MP3 from the Ramones!

Thanks to everyone for their support. Even though this blog won't be operational for much longer (see here and here), I'm having a blast doing it. Thanks!

-DIB.

DIB: Nepal

2006-04-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Fucking sucks.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepal's government has issued an 18-hour curfew for Kathmandu in an effort to prevent pro-democracy demonstrators from staging a major rally in the capital city.

Activists distributed pamphlets urging every household to send at least one person to Thursday's planned demonstration in the capital.

Yesterday, I posted in a PS about how Mrs. DIB and I will be leaving the US for a while. One of the places we have a ticket for is Nepal. We were going to spend about 35 days there, but things just keep getting worse and worse there. Now, there's a Shoot-on-sight curfew being imposed there. I'm all for overthrowing kings and democracy, but couldn't the pick a better time to have civil unrest? Perhaps late next year, AFTER we've hike the Anapurnas?

For more information on Nepal and the political strife there, visit your local wiki.

-DIB.

Married Music II: The Like Young

2006-04-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Remember 6 weeks ago, when I posted about Mates of State? Probably not. At the time I said I was going to do some postings about married bands. Then I kind of didn't have time to do it, and then I forgot, and then I remembered, but I got busy again and didn't have time to do it. Finally, amid great fanfare, here is the second "married band" mp3. By the Like Young, I give you:

The Like Young - Out to Get Me (link goes to an outside page owned by me with the song)

Unlike Mates of State, this is straight ahead, kick-ass rock. No keyboards, no frills. Just stripped-down guitar and drum music. It makes me believe in rock again... that maybe it can be saved and the Sugar Rays and Coldplays of the world will be killed and mocked and everyone will have a good laugh at the days when rock sucked.

The Like Young consist of Amanda (drums, vocals) and Joe Ziemba (guitar, vocals). I first heard about them in this Punk Planet article when the album So Serious (from which today's song is taken) was released.I give So Serious 4 thumbs way up, and recomend you listen to "Worry a Lot" (track 3) and "Sabine & Me" (track 5, video here) if you like today's song. If you don't, well, you must be an old lady wearing a diaper and accidentally surfed in here looking for a way to dispose of your own poop... perhaps you want to put it in a box?

The Like Young also have a new record coming out in 3 weeks, so this is pretty good timing. Check out another free MP3 from Polyvinyl Records:

TLY - For Money or Love

Enjoy!
-DIB.

The Like Young, official website.
Purchase TLY stuff (don't get from amazon... they're charging 17 bucks for a 10 dollar record).

PS - I know that posts have been few and far between, lately, and they're bound to get worse. That's because Mrs. DIB and I will be leaving the country for a while, starting in August this year. We won't be back in the world until March 2007. We'll try to chronicle our adventures either here or on another blog, but when the time comes for us to leave, I'll let everyone know. Thanks for your continued patronage!

PPS - MP3's are for trial purposes only. If you like the song, go buy the album. If not, delete and move along, though I'm not sure how anyone could dislike TLY.

Hybrid Durango

2006-04-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

On Treehugger.com, there's a nice little summary about an op-ed in the NYT about the hybrid-car conundrum:

Someone can buy a Dodge Durango hybrid, for example, qualify for tax breaks, "feel good" about saving the planet, and still get 14 miles/gallon (instead of 12), while a conventional Honda Civic driver doesn't get kick-backs from the government, doesn't have a status-symbol car with the word "hybrid" on it, but gets 40 miles/gallon.

Mrs. DIB's parents recently bought a Prius. It's a comfortable ride and gets great mileage, but they live in the hills of Santa Cruz, and they need a lot of power to get to their place, which means they're probably using up tons of gas, anyway. Additionally, my father-in-law just bought a Mazda Miata, which is rated at only 23 MPG (and we all know how bullshit those ratings are). What's my point? I have no idea. Just go read the article then go to your room and think about what you've done for the environemnt today.

-DIB.

Dump-in-a-Box for 12 April 2006

2006-04-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

From the Washington Post:

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.

This story and Scott McClellan's reaction to it are circulating all over the left-wing blogs. Feel free to head over to Kos to or Think Progress to read more.

-DIB.

NOFX - Wolves in Wolves' Clothing

2006-04-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

New MP3 over at Fat Wreck. Enjoy!

NOFX - 100 Times Fuckeder

The Clash, aka - Al Queda

2006-04-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

I got this from dailykos and I just thought it was kinda funny, but also sad that people are so fucking paranoid. Then again, maybe the guy just didn't tip his cabby enough! Clicky.

LONDON (Reuters) - British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.

-DIB.

Simpsons Vs. Futurama Movie

2006-04-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

I was going to make this a reply to Craig's comment below, but when it started getting really long, I thought I'd go ahead and make a real post about it.

What are you talking about, Craig?! Futurama has so much more potential for a movie than the Simpsons. After 17 years, the Simpsons have pretty much cemented their characters and their motives and have covered fucking everything in that universe. And the Simpsons don't have any great characters anymore.... they're all so one-dimensional. Just go watch the first three seasons, and you'll see some real depth in characters like Homer and Bart. Sure the big guy was dumb, but he was at least genuine. Now he seems to be a selfish, bald, and yellow version of Luke Skywalker (i.e.- whiny and weak). How many times an episode does he scream and cry these days? I haven't watched the show in years... I stopped when it became really stupid about 5 years ago, and i can't imagine the movie will be any good. Where's the subtle social commentary? Everything on that show is totally in your face... to the extreme!

Futurama, on the other hand, would make a great movie. The characters were just hitting their stried when the show got cancelled and they literally had an entire universe to explore! Sure, it got a bit sappy and heavy-handed at times, but so did the Simpsons (a) (b). So, no offence, Craig, but you have no idea what you're talking about. The Simpsons movie is about 12 years too late.

And that's my two cents.

Zuh?

2006-04-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

IMDB
To be honest, I'd much rather see this movie.

-DIB.

Japan Night, LA

2006-03-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

Since I'm such a bad writer, you might just want to readThe Punk Vault's take on this 5-band showcase of Japanese bands touring the US. The advantage of reading PV's take is that Craig and I saw one less band than they did. Here is the lineup that played at the Knitting Factory last night:

The Emeralds (video)

The Rodeo Carburettor (with a really annoying website)

Stance Punk

PE'Z

TsuShiMaMiRe

I will now give you my quick take, overly-generalized comments on each band:
The Emeralds, alone, made the evening worth the admission. They were a surf-pop trio with matching black vinyl pants. Nothing really sepcial about their music, but they really got into it with the crowd, and the audience of about 60 were really responsive. They had a lot of the we-chant-you-chant-back type of songs (see the video linked to above), but their crazy Japanese antics were just what I needed to have a good evening (getting two beers in my gut during the first set helped out, too). I bought their CD, and when I'm in Japan in August, I'll definitely be looking to see them play to their home-town crowd.

Rodeo Carburettor came on next, and were the only really "punk" band. I thouroughly enjoyed them, but didn't buy their CD. I wish I had. I can't really remember who they reminded me of, but I swear their last song was a cover of TSOL's Superficial Love. Even if it wasn't, the last song was fucking awesome. I hope they play a bill with the Emeralds when I'm in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Stance Punk were the least impressive to me, but their guitar player was pretty good and he had really spiky hair.

PE'Z was a weird band to throw in here, near the end of the show. It seemed like their sole purpose was to play jazz as fast as possible. I give them credit for being great musicians and for having a stand-up bass, but I kind of got tired of them after a while, even though I had 4 beers by this point. I won't be looking for their show in Japan.

The last band was the power-pop trio called TsuShiMaMiRe. Think: The Donnas, but cuter and Japanese. These girls seemed really well-trained on their instruments, were tight, and had some Nirvana-esque riffs. It was a fun set, and I did buy one of their CDs, but it's not nearly as good as their live set. When I'm in Japan, if they're playing the same bill as RC and the Emeralds, I'd stick around, but I doubt I'd shell out 2 million yen (or whatever the equivalent of 20 bucks is) to see them again.

If you're interested in some other Japanese punk bands, be sure to check out:

Hi-Standard

Nicotine (one of my favorite bands... check them out on AMR)

Friday Knights (an LA band with a shitty name, but I auditioned to be their drummer a few years ago, and I liked their stuff, but things didn't work out)

and Nemo (another LA-based all Japanese band... indie rock/pop-punk... decent live sets. They're broken up now.)

-DIB out.

Animal Warefare

2006-03-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

PET STORE CLERK: I bought these shoes from a company on the Internet because they don't test on animals.[Death sighs] You know, animals never have war. War is an invention of mankind.

DEATH: What are you talking about? Animals fight all the time!

Click.

I found this page after hitting that "next blog" button on the top right a few times. On that page, I found the interesting article linked to above about using animals in warefare. The funniest one (but also one of the sickest) is this:

WWII: Attach a bomb to a cat and drop it from a dive-bomber on to Nazi ships. The cat, hating water, will "wrangle" itself on to enemy ship's deck. In tests cats became unconscious in mid-air.

Who thinks of this shit?

-DIB.

DIB Band Profile: Setoff

2006-03-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

My last band sucked. And not because we had bad songwriting or anything. We sucked because I sucked. Here, have a listen for yourself:

Karaoke Outfit - Off of Me
Karaoke Outfit - Suburban Legends

Unfortunately, that's the best drumming I'm capable of. It took us fucking forever to record those songs, and the second one is only in time because it's a Frankenstein-ed song, taken from about 10 takes, using a click track. I just can't keep time. I'm divirging from the point I was trying to make, which is that the other two guys in my band went on to form much better bands than Karaoke Outfit. One of those bands is called Setoff, who recently held one of the "songs of the day" over at garageband.com, and are in the running for this weekend's songs of the day. Head over there now and check it out.

So, continuing the new DIB tradition of profiling bands instead of just putting up mp3s randomly, I give you the third DIB band profile, with answers provided by Whitney Baron.

Setoff - And Now the Weather

1) What are your names and what do you do in the band?
Nino De La Rosa Sings
Whitney Baron Plays The Six String
Matt Howell Plays The Four String
Eric Kamm Plays The Drums.

2) How long have you been together and how did you all meet?
The lineup above have only been playing together for about a month, but "Setoff" has been a band for about a year now. Nino and Eric met in a previous band. I joined the group in early July of last year after responding to a Craig's List post that Eric put up. Matt started playing with us after two former members (original guitar player and bassist) quit due to creative differences (the pull of acoustic pop death rock was just too strong) in early February '06.

3) What is "And Now the Weather" about?
This song is essentially a diatribe against governmental misinformation disseminated through the media. The chorus is a rhetorical question adressed to the increasing number of people in this country who realize that we did not have proper justification to go to war - and now American lives are being lost and it's just shamefull, depressing and enfuriating at the same time.

4) How collaborative is your song-writing and how does it get done?
Pretty collaborative. For the majority of songs I will bring in a melodic idea (or several) and Eric and I will structure them into a complete song. Then we will show Matt the forms and he then writes his own bass parts. Nino then usually listens to us play the song ad nauseum in order to come up with a melody line and syllabic structure for the vocals. Then, some combination of Nino, Eric and I will write lyrics. Finally, Nino and I come up with vocal harmonies and voila!

5) What are your major musical and lyrical influences?
As a band I would say that our biggest influences are Rise Against, Propagandhi and Hot Water Music (as in, we sound most like a combination of these bands), but seperately our influences are:
Whitney: Propagandhi, A Wilhelm Scream, Alkaline Trio
Nino: No Use For A Name, Lagwagon, Rise Against
Eric: Hot Water Music, Lagwagon, Rise Against
Matt: Bad Religion, Strung Out, Suicide Machines

6) What is your greatest moment as a band? Your worst?
Our greatest moment was probably opening for one of our (collectively) favorite bands...Lagwagon (and the Lawrence Arms) at Slims in San Francisco in late November. We played the best set I think we were capable of at the time and we were praised by members of both other bands and quite a few members of the audience. None of the moments have been particularly bad yet. It's dissapointing that we haven't gotten signed already, but...baby steps.

7) What's your favorite part of being in Setoff?
My favorite part about being in Setoff, aside from the fact that we have all become friends rather quickly, is the way that we click in practice. When our two previous members were in the band, practices were rather uncomfortable and we were never able to get that much work done. Since Matt joined the band the four of us have begun to work prolifically and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we are all a lot more comfortable in the practice space environment.

8) Since you've been in bands in NorCal and SoCal, which scene is friendlier? Is it easier to book shows in locale over the other?
It's probably easier to book in Socal since there are so many small clubs. Booking in San Francisco is pretty rediculous although there are a lot of small clubs in the outer Bay Area which are easier to book but where the audiences can be spotty. In terms of friendliness of the scene I have to say that Norcal is more friendly. Part of what annoyed me about Socal (although it might have been because all our friends/fans were lazy college kids) was the general apathy of most of the audiences in front of which we played.

9) KO or Setoff?
Loaded question :} ...I think I'm gonna have to go with Setoff on this one. But more because of differences in me between then and now than anything else. I believe that I'm at a place now where I can contribute something meaninful both musically and lyrically to the scene (whatever that means) and even though I always had a lot of fun playing with Karaoke Outfit, it was clearly secondary for all of us (which was totally fine at the time since we were all students). Even though it's a lot more hard work to practice 3-4 nights a week and play shows every other weekend, it is ultimately its own reward as I see us solidifying our live performance and garnering more audience and respect from other bands with each passing show. That being said, I would still love to record a version of "Better Left Undead" for posterity...we should talk to Mark [bass player from KO, sings on Off of Me, and currently in Scholarship Room] about that.

10) How do you qualify success, as individuals or as a band? Where is Setoff?
I think it's really both. Or rather, I hope that one leads to the other. We each have individual successes (writing particularly good musical parts or vocal lines etc.) on our own and hopefully when it all comes together in June we will have a record worth the effort we put into it and other people will begin to take notice. I suppose outside of the writing process success is collective. The two major hurdles for the band (once we have a solid recording) are to find a label to release the record and attempt to go on tour with a national act. We're not there yet on either count but we have taken significant steps towards both. Ask us again in July. For now, check out our myspace (www.myspace.com/setoffpunk) site where you can hear some of our old tunes and drop us a line. Thanks.

So Lazy and Surly

2006-03-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

"you sayin we ain't workin?"

I know that I promised to have new music up here on Monday, but once again, I didn't come through. When you only have dial-up at home, making mp3s and uploading them can take an hour or more, but even that's not a very good excuse. I'll try to get something up by Friday. Till then, enjoy an abundance of music from the radio/podcasts of LFCM (the guys from PunkVinyl.com playing all kinds of great old punk records) and the second G7 podcast.

-DIB.

Scoop Jackson

2006-03-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

Click.

Bonds -- according to the story -- did what he did only because professional baseball allowed McGwire and Sosa to do something he wasn't doing. It allowed them to save baseball. It allowed them to accomplish feats Barry Bonds knew he couldn't do with just ZMA assistance.

And that's not jealousy, as it was labeled in the piece -- that's business. Just as MLB made a business decision to do nothing about the 1998 home run chase, Bonds made a business decision to do the opposite: something.
[...]
The asterisk, congressional hearings with real value, the bans from baseball, the erasing of records and home runs. None of that has happened -- and none of it is going to happen. Major League Baseball will not allow it. It has to protect its (business).

Beware of copious analogies at the beginning of the article.

Dump In a Box for 14.Mar.06

2006-03-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

An Outward Show of Political Influence
LA Times

Although the badges issued by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and the San Bernardino County district attorney's office (given to people who donated money to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Riverside Sheriff Bob Doyle and San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos) are not identical to those used by sworn officers, they bear similar stars or other symbols and official department names. It is a misdemeanor in California to distribute badges to the public that are likely to be confused with real law enforcement badges.
[...]
Ramos said he asked Nalbandian to return the badges in October 2003 because he came to realize "it looks horrible" to award badges to campaign donors and that the name "Bureau of Justice" sounded too much like a real police organization.

Oh yeah... those won't get misused. Just read this excerpt about a member of the "Homeland Security Support Unit":

Raffi Mesrobian displayed both his Los Angeles sheriff's ID card and his Riverside sheriff's Executive Council badge to state agents serving a search warrant at his Glendale naturopathy office during a Medi-Cal fraud investigation last year.

A state Department of Justice investigator wrote in his report that the identification card "did not distinguish whether Mesrobian was a sworn peace officer, a civilian employee or volunteer." Mesrobian is not a reserve deputy and has had no law enforcement training.

"In fact … the official photo identification card would suggest that Mesrobian was a deputy or official of the Sheriff's Department instead of an unpaid volunteer or member of a support council," Special Agent J. Timothy Fives wrote in his report.

-DIB.

'Nuff Said

2006-03-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

From ESPN:

DIB - 10 March 2006

2006-03-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

Pimp Ford.

Maybe they should just be burning crosses.

Have a good weekend, and look for new music on Monday (if I have time) from another married band.

-DIB.

DIB Band Proflie: Cova

2006-03-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

RIYL: FatWreck, Knapsack, Bad Religion, Punk

See also: Soft, Outtaline, Soda., and Cova's MySpace
page (with three downloadable MP3s).

I'm not that good at comparing one band to another, so I don't really know what to put in that RIYL section above, or what to say here, really. I guess you should just take a listen for yourself.

Cova - Minus One

I've known Paul from Cova for quite a while. You can see a picture of him in his skivies here (on the left). Recognize that soundboard? You can see the exact same one here in my profile photo. Paul's picutre is on the cover of the No Pants! CD, which is a benefit compilation for the radio station we worked at together. [note the outrageous used-price tag on that CD... I recommed buying it, but instead send 10 bucks to the fundraising manager at KSCU, 103.3 fm. Also, you should probably start streaming their station instead of listening to KROQ or XM or whatever the fuck you're listening to.]

Okay, so back to the point of this post, which is Cova. Well, I keep writing shit and then deleting it, and I can't say it any better than Paul, so I'll just get right to the questions. I asked Paul a few questions over email last week, and here's what he sent me. He's a thouroughly engaging person, really funny, and (despite what he says below) a great guitar player. Enjoy.

Cova Official Website

1) What are your names and what do you do in the band?
Paul sings vocals and plays guitar. Todd plays drums. Scott plays bass. And Jim plays guitar.

2) How long have you been together and how did you all meet?
As Cova, we’ve been kicking around for a few years. Story goes, Todd and Jim were playing together in a band called Soda. {here} A late lineup change brought Paul into the fold. Soda parted ways with the singer and formed Outtaline {here}. Lots of shows and fans and good times, but like many bands, life came along and threw a wrench into the works. So Todd, Paul, and Jim asked their good friend Scott (The Story) to come play the bass. The start has been a slow one, but our intentions from the first practice were to make music our way in our time frame. We all have lives and families, and the hard-driving “make or break” attitude from 5 or 6 years prior just clashes with the present day. We’re OK with that. We’re just trying to get our music out to people who care without false expectations or pretense.

3) Who or what is "Minus One" about?
At times the lyrics are written to be purposely vague. Such is the case with Minus One. Some think it’s about a girl. Others about drugs. To be honest, I wrote it about the breakdown between parent and teenage child. Pure fiction, though. I love my parents. Does that take away any cred points? Oh well.

4) How collaborative is your song-writing and how does it get done?
More often than not, one of us brings in a song that is essentially complete. Then we add some layers. Tweak some parts. The we play it over and over while I try desperately to come up with a vocal melody. The lyrics are written later outside the band room. We revisit songs quite a bit. Change little parts. Add a new twist on a background vocals. I was going to say “it’s organic, man.” But I’m wearing shoes. I’ve showered today. And thus, I’m not a hippie. Ha!

5) What are your major musical and lyrical influences?
For the most part, the whole band shares many of the same favorite bands—Samiam, Hot Water Music, Knapsack. But we all have our own things. Todd keeps the rock alive. Jim treads out into the quieter side of indie world. Scott digs a lot of these new instrumental bands coming up. And I’ve been listening to rockabilly.

6) What is your greatest moment as a band? Your worst?
Like all bands, there are moments when you get disheartened or frustrated. It’s a struggle sometimes. But that’s the nature of the beast. At the end of practice and the end of the day, we’re friends. And that’s so much more important than shows, songs, recording, etc. So for “worst,” I’d have to say the long, arduous search for a singer. We auditioned quite a few people, one of which was from some known bands. But nothing was working out. It was tough. I stepped up to the mic in the interim just to keep us going. And man did I suck ass. But I kept trying and trying with the all of the guys’ help. And it’s worked out so far. The best moment is any moment your hard work—and all the inherent bickering, disappointments, sweat, etc.—is acknowledged by someone who appreciates the final product.

7) Have you opened for any bands you idolize, yet? What happened?
We’ve been playing out locally, so no big names yet. In our previous incarnation, we had quite a few brushes with fame opening for Unwritten Law, Flogging Molly, Zeke, and Tilt. But the best one, for me at least, was playing with Agent Orange. I idolized them. So when Mike Palm came up after we played and said, “great show,” I about crapped myself in the middle of the venue. It was surreal.

8) What's the best part of being in Cova?
Playing with friends. Creating music with people who “get it.” We’re all basically on the same page. It’s comforting knowing that. You can try new things. That’s one of the things we wanted to do when we ended Outtaline: vary the tempos. Seemed like every song we had was fast and poppy. It started to become monotonous. Now we do whatever it is we want to do. And do it to please ourselves first and foremost.

9) How do you quantify success as a band or as an individual musician? Where is Cova?
Haha! When I was in Outtaline, I used to say that the only thing I ever wanted out of music was to have our CD available in a real record store. And to see a kid I didn’t know wearing our shirt. Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake. I can’t speak for the other guys, but I could care less about “making it.” I won’t lie, and say getting paid to make music for a living wouldn’t be nice. But that’s so far down on the priority list. Personally, I’m always trying to find a new way to write or play a song to keep it interesting…getting better as a singer. By no means am I some stellar guitar player, but I enjoy pushing myself.

As a band, I can say that success to us would be getting our music in front of as many people as we can. Let them decide if it’s worth listening to. We won’t pay for special placement on music sites. We refuse to have a street team. Our favorite bands were recommended to us by friends. That’s how we’d like Cova to grow its fan base. Rest assured we won’t stop playing music. I think people will just stop liking it. Ha!

And let me take this opportunity to thank you, Mike, for posting this. Word of mouth all the way. {Using my real name? Tsk-tsk. This is DIB's website!}

10) Outtaline or Cova?
Ha! Cova for sure. We had a great time in Outtaline. Personally, I realized a lot of my musical goals in that band. We do miss the camaraderie of the local San Jose scene back when we were in Outtaline. But musically, we’ve moved forward. Cova is where we’re all at. And it works for us.

Dump In A Box Followup

2006-03-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Fox News says: Civil war in Iraq is as made up as the Holocaust. Therefore, it must be true.

From Think Progress.

Atrios sums up somebody else's POV, and I'll repeat it here because I think it's good.

Republicans attach incredible importance to media criticism of the war, because they genuinely believe that the war is won and lost IN THE MEDIA. The American media, that is. Their partisan selves are so thoroughly embedded in the culture-jamming electioneering of the Rovist personality cult the GOP has become that they genuinely don’t recognize the difference between actually achieving peace and a non-doomed secular democracy in Iraq, and just being able to plausibly claim that peace on American TV.
<\blockquote>

-DIB.

Dump In a Box for Mar. 2003 - ????

2006-02-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

Things are going swimmingly in Iraq. Stay the fucking course. How long before that county explodes in civil war?

-DIB.

Thirty-Four Percent

2006-02-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

Click.

Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.

Mates of State

2006-02-27T17:48:00.000-08:00

Mates of State - La'Hov (goes to outside site with the song)

I was trying to come up with a new theme this weekend for DIB music, and I couldn't. I thought about doing songs about cops, but decided that the topic is kind of dumb and boring. So I settled for something even more dumb and boring: songs by bands with married couples! No, I'm not going to be posting any White Stripes, because I couldn't even name one of their tunes. Plus, as I discovered on the wiki, they're not married anymore, so there goes that.

Anyway, here's the first band, Mates of State, who are slated to release a new album very soon (out on Polyvinyl Records) and consist of husband-and-wife team Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Mrs. DIB and I have seen them live a handful of times, and for all their cutsie-ness (see their opening websplash) they're a pretty cool, tight band. In fact, it was because of MOS that Mrs. DIB and I once tried to form a band together, but then we realized that Mrs. DIB no longer owned her marching-band bass clarinet and I'm a shitty drummer.

Mates of State, are just a keyboard and drum set, and yet they make surprisingly rich music. I think the White Stripes are praised for their stripped-down guitar and drum sound, and there is some of that minimalism here, but the keyboards can add a really complicated dynamic to the music and I think today's selection is a perfect example of that. In addition, I think the vocals are nothing short of stunning, and I find her voice often chilling. I would equate the power in her voice to Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and the chick from Cat Power, whose name I can't remember right now. Have you ever seen any of these bands play? When Jenny Lewis lets it blow, she can fucking rattle your cage. Jason's drumming is simple but solid, and I think that's why this works so well without ever feeling like something is missing.

I hope you enjoy this song, and please please please go buy their shit and don't steal it. For actual factual information on MOS (and for purchasing their stuff), see the official site. Their myspace page has more music of theirs, as does the Polyvinyl site.

I know this ruins my punk creds, but who cares? It's too good to not listen to.

-DIB.

Sing it again, Willie!

2006-02-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

Click.

Head nod goes to Mr. Moses for sending this my way.

New music and a new Guaranteed piece of shit, later today.

-DIB.

New NOFX Tune!

2006-02-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

FatWreck has a new MP3 up from NOFX's forthcoming album. Yeah!
Not sure why it took me so long to find this, since Fat posted it about a week ago, but here it is anyway.

Get ready for some new music on Monday, and I'll have another band profile at the end of next week. Have a good weekend, everyone!

-DIB.

ps - A big fat stinky, steamy, creamy pile goes to the Birthday Boy, Non-Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman (actually, that pile of poop is too cute, how about this one). If you want to do something good, donate to Ned Lamont or anybody who's running against Joe.

Radial Disbribution Function

2006-02-23T10:53:00.000-08:00

(See comments of the post just below this one for context)

For those not in the know, here's a radial distribution function.

Stats - Tooting my own (lower) horn

2006-02-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

23Feb06 Update: Fixed the Link to Moe's Chronicle Disposition blog.

That's what she said!

It hasn't been quite a year since I started this here blog, but I thought I'd share my stats with you, since I find them to be interesting and I don't really understand where people come from to get here or why. Also, I'd like to give my little perspective on blogging, since I have time (it's nearly 11, and my wife and I are both still at work [different places, but basically there's no reason for me to go home {although she is on her way to pick me up}]).

I wasn't sure if anybody would ever read this blog besides Me and Mrs. DIB, the occasional co-worker, and my little brother, but then I sent my link over to The Hut, and the management there was nice enough to give me a link back in May (note the spike in visitors!). Later, the Hut put out a huge list of active MP3 blogs, including us, and that was really exciting. That mp3 blog listing has since been posted over and over again, including on the all-knowing wiki, and this has resulted in a small but steady stream of traffic ever since. It's not much, but I would guess about 5 to 10 hits a day are referrals from those listings. But that's not the whole story, since after the (precipitious) decline in June, I've had a steady increase in readers, to the point of 20+ per day, and I even got a mention by someone I don't know on DailyKos on Monday. That alone resulted in something like 50 hits. That traffic will die down soon, too, but people keep coming here, and although I can see roughly where you're coming from and where you live, as well as most referring sites, I still feel like I have no idea how people find this blog (aside from the random google search for the Tommy Boy reference for which this blog is named) or why you read it (my writing is bad, scattered, and not well-thought out). Is it just for the mp3's? How many repeat readers are there? I only know of two regular readers (besides people with the same last name as me), and I have no idea how Craig or Moe found me. I'm glad that they did, though, because I enjoy reading their blogs so much, and I don't think I would have found them otherwise. Whatever the methods or reasons, 20+ readers a day is far more hits than I would have imagined for this site back in April last year and I appreciate all the readers, comments, and emails I've gotten.

Finally, I want to close this post by saying something about why I do this blog. When Mrs. DIB and I were still "just friends," we did a show for our college radio station (I mentioned that previously here), and the photo at the top right is us interviewing a local pop-punk band. I loved doing that show, and I particularly loved getting requests for songs or compliments on our show. I like to think that in the 4 years we did it, people knew us and we knew our audience, small though it may have been. There were regular callers, and bands we interviewed (and not just shitty ones, but Dick Dale and Bad Religion, among others), and most of all we were part of something exciting: the mid to late 1990's punk scene in the SF Bay Area. I miss those days. I missed talking about music and being part of the music scene. Since I quit my last band (and haven't started a new one) Mrs. DIB and I don't really hang out with any punks anymore (though I do talk to the guitar player from my old band, and he runs a pretty good blog, too). We don't go to punk shows anymore because they're full of fucking posers and dressed-up punks. I just feel so disconnected from the scene that defined my adolescence and early adult-hood. I guess that's why I do this blog.

I always appreciate feedback, and in particular, I hope that everyone who reads this posting can leave at least a small comment saying how and why they hit post/site. It's not so much for (lower) horn tooting, but more out of sheer curiosity and to try and make a connection to real people on this here interweb.

-DIB.

PS - Mrs. DIB picked me up on Tuesday night around 11pm, so I didn't finish this post until Wed. morning. Also, I know that at the time of posting the video in the link "connection" isn't working, but hopefully it'll be back soon. If you missed it, it's a Daily Show clip about MySpace.com.

DIB Band Profile: SOFT

2006-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

I reviewed this band a while ago, and then they were nice enough to give a copy of their new song and they answered a few of my questions. I'm going to try to make this an on-going thing, here at DIB, and I plan on asking basically the same questions to everyone. This is partially because I'm likely a bad ``journalist,'' but also because I find it interesting to see the different responses to the same questions. The profile basically goes like this: I'll find a band I like or a band will contact me (as the band Soft did several months ago), and I'll listen to some of their shit. I'll find a song I really like, post it, and then ask the questions I've determined to be interesting. Then I play the waiting game.

Well, the game is over, and so here goes the first ever DIB band profile, on an excellent indie rock band from NYC, Soft. The song is

Soft - Higher

And here's my mini interview, with responses by Johnny Reineck (JR):

DIB: What are your names and what do you do in the band?
JR: Johnny Reineck- Vocals, Vincent Perini- Guitar, Sam Wheller- Guitar, Dino
Siampos- Bass, Chris Colley- Drums

DIB: How long have you been together and how did you all meet?
JR: We've been together for about 2 years now and we were all friends before we
started the band. We were hanging out for a long time before we ever got
the idea.

DIB: What is "Higher" about?
JR: Astral Projection.

DIB: Who does most of the song-writing?
JR: We all do it and way too much.

DIB: What are your major musical and lyrical influences?
JR: I'm really into (Smog) and the Jesus and Mary Chain for lyrics, George
Michael and Ian Brown for melodies, Primal Scream and Spiritualized for
feel, and Chemical Brothers and INXS for grooves.

DIB: What is your greatest moment as a band?
JR: Probably our first NYC show - at Irving Plaza!

DIB: Have you opened for any bands you idolize, yet?
JR: Not yet - still working on it!

DIB: What's your favorite part of being in a band?
JR: Playing our song Gold - never ceases to feel great.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little interview (I sure did, so I'll keep doing them as long as bands keep showing interest) and I hope you enjoy the song. If you sign up for Soft's mailing list, you'll get access to even more MP3s, and finally, I hope that profiling an indie rock band won't tarnish my punk creds.

Pansy Division - Gay Cowboys

2006-02-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

I got the song last night, and I must say that Willie didn't let me down! I don't know if the three DIB readers dig Willie Nelson, but the man is an excellet guitar player (and a prolific songwriter, even if he didn't pen "Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other"). He's so fucking soulful and euphonious, and he makes the lyrics:

Well I believe in my soul that inside every man there's a feminine,
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear.
Well, a cowboy may brag about things that he does with his women,
But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.

Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other
What did you think those saddles and boots was about?
There's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels towards his brother,
Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.

not sound comical but really meaningful. Now, being an urban Los Angeleno (Los Angelite?), I know absolutely nothing about gay cowboys or the west Texas plains. What I do know, however, is that Pansy Division covered this song years ago. I won't be posting Willie's new version of CAFSFOEO here, but feel free to buy it from iTunes or "borrow" if from some appropriate source. In the mean time, peep this:

Pansy Division - Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other

from the offical PD website (where there are dozens more free MP3s!).

Enjoy!

-DIB out.

Brokeback Willie

2006-02-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

I'll be buying this song tonight, and I'll give you a review tomorrow, if I have time.

I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, yet, and Mrs. DIB keeps asking me to go with her. I'll probably see it sometime soon, but the reason I'm not interested in the movie is because I haven't heard anything about it except that it's a "regular love story, just with gay cowboys." Well so what? I don't give a shit about love stories. I didn't see fucking "Kate & Leopold" (even though Wolverine was in it) because I don't typically enjoy that genre.

Now, as I only know one person who has see BBM, the most of my understanding of the film comes from radio and internet reviews, as well as tag lines like "Love is a force of nature." So to me, it all sounds like it could be a movie with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Who cares? If the movie is nothing but a regular love story that "transcends sexuality," then it's just another Crapless in Seattle. But I get the feeling that it's not "just another love story" about how "love is blind." I get the feeling that the story is about (or at least should be about) how difficult it is to come to terms with being homosexual in a place where so many people don't understand you and cast their eyes down on you, and how one might even hate themselves for being gay. That dynamic seems far more interesting and engaging to me than just some shitty ass romance story. I hope I'm not dissappointed.

I'm glad that this movie is getting the kind of press it has, and that it's winning awards... even if it turns out to be a regular romance movie with gay cowboys in place of J-Lo and Ben Afleck. If nothing else, I hope people realize that, yes, queers are people, too. I also hope that it can change some minds quickly, because we (as a country) are heading into dangerous territory. And most of all, I hope I'm not dissappointed by the film that "everybody is talking about!" But then again, Ang Lee has let me down before.

-DIB.

[What follows is an excerpt from a conversation Mrs. DIB and I had on G-Talk today:]

MrsDIB: one counter point i might make is that the reason this movie is such a big deal is that it IS a regular old romance/love story where ppl encounter difficulties and (i'm assuming) with a romeo and juliet ending - they cant be together so the fact that they are 2 men in love is a refreshing thing to see on the big screen. we dont get to see that often - just like we dont get to see ethnic couples (that is non-caucasian) in "regular" relationship movies frequently.

ME: but if it's just another love story, it might as well just be Kate&Leopold!

MrsDIB: these films always become about being asian, or latino, or gay, or whatever. it's not just the story. that's why seeing a love story that happens to involve gay men is such a big deal.

ME: i see your point, but that doesn't make me want to see it.

Happy V-Day

2006-02-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Free song from DIB to you.

Update 2: Hockey Gambling - HA HA!

2006-02-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Roenick is the first active player implicated in the gambling ring.

"This is not the first time that Roenick's name has surfaced in a gambling investigation. In 2004, it was learned that Roenick — then with the Philadelphia Flyers — paid more than $100,000 to a Florida firm that made millions selling betting tips to gamblers.

There was no evidence that Roenick had bet on hockey games and he said at the time that he had quit gambling, "cold turkey."

I never really liked Roenick... he has a reputation as being kind of a jackass, and I think this old fart needs to retire. Also, I hate the Kings, so anything that will remove them from playoff contention is good news in my book.

-DIB

PS - I like hockey, again, at least for a little while.

Happy Queer-ish Valentine's Day

2006-02-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

To continue my recent homo-positive theme, I give you one of my favorite songs by the excellent band, Propagandhi:

Propagandhi - Less Talk, More Rock (outside page with the song)

Lyrics from the song:

I'd like to actively encourage
the toughest man to dance,
as hard as he can to this: My song!
And bring your stupidest friends along.
[snip]
Cuz if you dance this,
You drink to me,
And my sexuality,
With your hands down my pants
By transitive property.

Beautiful! Except it turns out nobody in Propagandhi is actually gay.
From their FAQ:

Are you guys gay?

Yawn. No. We are not gay. At least not in the sexual sense of the word. Ha. But, really, so what if we were? It's like, 2001, fer chrissakes. Calm down and get a grip already. People are different. As long as people are looking out for each other, whatever floats their horny little boats is cool by us. We fully support the movement for gay and lesbian liberation. So there.

Oh well, we can still enjoy the message and I hope you all enjoy the song.

-DIB.

PS - In case you didn't already know, there's a good podcast done by the guys at G7 Welcoming Committee, which is Propagandhi's label.

Update: Gambling

2006-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Two items: (1) Wayne Gretzky (the great one and head coach of the Coyotes)'s wife (actress Janet Jones of Police Academy "fame") has been implicated in the NHL gambling ring and (2) the mafia family is the Bruno-Scarfo family.

From ESPN.com

Sports leagues have always reacted more strongly to gambling than drug, alcohol and sexual misadventures because it is the area that is most closely tied to the integrity of the game, he said.

It might not be right, and in fact it might say more about society than we would like to admit, but fans will forgive much about their sporting heroes but will stay away in droves if there isn't complete certainty that the games aren't being fixed or manipulated by outside forces -- like organized crime, like the Bruno-Scarfo crime family operating in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, the crime family identified by state police as having ties to Tocchet's operation.

Songbird

2006-02-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

Excellent

This Week's Dump-In-A-Box

2006-02-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Clicky.

Okay, this week's DIB is about a sports gambling ring, run by an assistant coach of the Phoenix Coyotes (a professional hockey team, for those not in the know). The article says that several current and former NHLers are implicated in the scandal, as well, but that "he hockey players bet on football and basketball games, not hockey." That seems fine, at first, but the very next line is a doozy: " The gambling ring had a connection with organized crime in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey." Yes. The mob. So, as my friend mentioned, if the mob tells you to do something, you freakin' do it. So even if these players weren't putting money on games, there's still a chance that they (or the Coyotes' coach) were coerced into doing something instead of paying up to fucking gangsters!

I currently hate hockey (since my team is so shitty), but I'll be keeping an eye on this story as it continues.

-DIB.

Music Monday

2006-02-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Again, I'm not so much posting homo/queer-core, as I am posting queer-positive music. Today's selection is Soda - My Friend's Boyfriend's Friend's Gay (clicky to go to the outside-blogspot page that I use to host mp3s).

I find this song to really be more queer-neutral, but in this country, that's actually pretty good. The song really seems to me to be about being more PC and not getting hung up about other people's life-styles, and I think that's a lesson conservatives should learn.

Homer: Hey! We owe this guy, and I don't want you calling him a sissy.
This guy's a fruit, and a... no, wait, wait, wait: queer, queer
queer! That's what you like to be called, right?
John: Well, that or John.
Lisa: This is about as tolerant as Dad gets so you should be
flattered.

The song also reminds me of that TMBG song, Your Racist Friend, which was covered by Bodyjar and can be found on their record "Singles and Stuff."

I wrote about Soda a while ago when I posted an Outtaline song, and said that Stevie Cab was in that band. Well, that's still true, but he didn't play on this song, so you'll have to get your Cab-Fix from the Police Academy.

Homer:How could you?! Haven't you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church? Captain Whatshisname? We live in a society of laws. Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn't hear anybody laughing! Did you?! Except at that guy who made sound effects. [Homer makes some and laughs to himself] Where was I? Oh yeah: stay out of my booze.

I'd tell you where to buy Soda records, but I just don't know where you'll find them.

Enjoy!
-DIB.

Sloppy Update

2006-02-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

I Don't Wanna Be a Homosexual by Sloppy Seconds is up over at Chronicle Disposition, and he also posted a bunch of other good shit in that post, including Hats off to Halford by Atom (and his package, of course), which is an excellent song about Rob Halford coming out of the closet. The last lines are my favorite:

See I old you metal dudes are gay too.
And I haven't recieved the proof so far that your
Sexuality determines the way you play guitar.
Oh, I'd love for everyone in heavy metal to be homosexual,
If not only to make the nazi fucking pricks in Slayer a little uncomfortable.

I should mention that Atom has a bunch of other mp3s freely available here, and that there's an mp3 with Rob Halford response to Hats on that page, as well.

Enjoy!
-DIB.

PS - Thumbs down to CD for scooping my post on Hats off to Halford, but don't worry, loyal DIB reader: You will be rewarded with at least three other Homo-Core songs, one of which I can almost guarantee you haven't heard yet!

The Weasel

2006-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

If I had been clever, I would have saved this song for today... But I'm not.

Instead, I'll continue my Gay-Positive Theme I started last week. Today's selection is the much-anticipated Screeching Weasel - I Wanna Be a Homosexual (the link takes you to an outside page that contains the song).

Here are Ben Weasel's words about the song:

"Homosexual " was written at the suggestion of a Homocore pioneer/fanzine editor/filmmaker Bruce LaBruce who had heard about Sloppy Seconds' "I Don't Wanna Be A Homosexual" and thought we should respond (and for the record - we never felt that the Sloppys' tune was homophobic, nor did we ever have any animosity toward the band - we just thought it would be funny). Bruce wrote a few lines and I made up the rest as I sang in the studio.

I've never heard the Sloppy's song, either, so I'll take Glen up on his offer to host the song. If you don't already read his blog, you should, but I'll post an update whenever he gets around to putting it up.

Buy SW shit
Read Ben Weasel's (conservative) Blog
Read TwoLegsBad's take on Ben Weasel.

Final Thought:

To be honest, I never new that much about Weasel, his politics, views, or even his music... I just own two of their records (Kill Musicians and My Brain Hurts). I always thought they were kind of catchy and really just a rip-off of the Ramones (in fact, Kill Musicians has something like SIX Ramones covers!). But after reading Craig's account and Ben's own words about Vonnegut, I'm very disappointed.

-DIB.

DIB

2006-01-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

I have no words to describe how disappointed I am in the Democratic party. This is exactly why I'm not registered as a Dem... they don't fucking stand up for what I believe in, or what they fucking believe in, for that matter. Since I don't have the words, here is a bunch of other people, far more eloquent than I:

Meteor-Blades
Georgia10
Markos
Josh Marshall

The whole "Alito gets the ABA's highest rating, so I'm voting for him" is one of the biggest guaranteed pieces of shit I've ever heard. Possibly only surpassed by Lincoln Chaffee's yes-and-no vote. Good-bye checks and balances. Good-bye civil rights. Good-bye women's rights. Good-bye America.

-DIB.

ps - can i get back on my angry-song kick, again?

Nerd-Core meets Queer Core

2006-01-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think I've exhausted my interest in the Angry Song playlist, but in case you're still looking, I recommend putting almost anything by the following on your list, who's music I didn't post over the last several weeks: Rise Against, ACO or Set Off.

Now, onto the music. Today's selection is MC Frontalot - I Heart Fags (lyrics). There's a few songs I've been cacheing up, all of which are american dreams, all of which are american dreams,all of which are american dreams,all of which... are american dreams!

Sorry, I mean, all of which are pro-queer. They're not really "queer-core" as classified by the all-knowing wiki, but I'll probably call it queer-core, anyway. At the very least, MC Frontalot is the very definition of "nerd-core", having coined the phrase himself way back in 2000.

Enjoy all of Frontalot's shit (he has pleanty of free mp3s available) and look for some queer-oriented or at least pro-queer punk next week.

-DIB.

Bandwidth

2006-01-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

There's something silly about the way my new free mp3 hosting company does stuff. It seems that if I link straight to the mp3s I have stored with them, you can't download them. So each time I host mp3s from now on, you'll have to hit a link that takes you to a small freewebs.com page that has links to the mp3s I'm hosting over there there, so you can DL them. Got it? Check this one, for example.

Sorry for the trouble.

-DIB.

Hat tip to Mr. Moses over at CD for pointing me to freewebs.com, and huge hat tip to freewebs.com for having way more bandwidth for free than shitty ass geocities/yahoo.

Creeping Death

2006-01-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist this... I've been laughing to myself all freaking day listening to this guy. I highly recommend Creeping Death, first, followed by Smells Like Teen Spirit!

I won't spoil it and tell you what to expect, but it's not only funny but pretty fucking good, too. The rest of his shit can be found here.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetarians

2006-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

No, today is not another Dead Kennedys post. Today I bring you the mighty Agent Orange! (get it... fruit!)

I previously posted comments about this excellent early-80's punk/surf/rok band, and now I bring you a pair of songs (with new, expanded bandwith!) that I listen to when I'm feeling pissed. (Is anyone else getting tired of this theme besides me? It could probably go on forever, so maybe I should come up with a new theme after this post.)

The first of these two songs (both from the same re-issue of their first EP) is called America, and follows the tradition I've laid out here on DIB in the last few weeks, RE: angry songs. The second one, No Such Thing, goes something like:

everybody stop asking me
i'm telling you i'm not in love

there's no such thing
it doesn't matter to me i know
there's no such thing
isn't that a relief to know
there's no such thing

You see... he's angry about the lack of love in his life!

Yes, I know, it's a boring subject for songs, but you can't argue with the angst and emotion in this recording. I could rant and rave and write a bunch about Agent Orange, but I think you should google them yourself, if you're interested. The only tidbit I have about Agent Orange was disseminated in a previous post, so I won't repeat it here.

Please enjoy these MP3s responsibly... buy the fucking record if you like it!

-DIB.

Vegetarian Dump-In-An-In-N-Out

2006-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

There's a pair of posts over at CD (with tons of good songs, to boot) about being a vegetarian. I mention this because last fall I made some vegetarian comments, as well.

I wrote some of this story over at CD, but I'll retell it here, for the DIB audience: Just after Christmas, I was driving back to LA from SF with my brother (not vege) and Mrs. DIB (is also vege). We stopped at an In-N-Out, which I had never been to. I went up to the counter and asked the chick working there "Do you have a vegie burger?" "Yeah," she said, and then she turned to one of the burger assembly-line guys and asked "what's on our vegie burger?" "Lettuce, tomato, and red sauce" he replied. "Okay" Mrs. DIB and I said. "We'll take two of those." Plus we got fries and drinks. We go outside to eat our "vegie burgers," and it's just a fucking bun with lettuce tomato onion and red sauce. It was a not-burger. What the fuck kind of food is that?

I found their fries to be soggy and shitty (even though everyone seem to rave about them), and I was starving after I "finished" (since apparently vegetarians don't eat anything).

Scene shifts to cafeteria lunch line. Such appetizing entrees as "Giblet McNiblets", "Salibury Balls" and "Cows Legs" are featured.

Lisa: Uhh, excuse me? Isn't there anything here that doesn't have meat in it?
Doris: Possibly the meat loaf.
Lisa: Well, I believe you're required to provide a vegetarian alternative.
Doris: [Picks up a hot dog in a bun, shakes the weiner out, and slaps the bun down on Lisa's tray.] Yum. It's rich in bunly goodness.
Lisa: [Drolly.] Do you remember when you lost your passion for this work?

In case you couldn't tell, In-N-Out is today's Dump-in-a-Box! Guaranteed not to contain a vegie burger!

-DIB.

ps - I've been told that what I got was the "grilled cheese," but the saddest thing is that there was not even cheese on our not-burgers!

Crappy

2006-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest with you all... I don't own my own website, and so I don't know where to host my songs except (as you probably know) on Geocities. Unfortunately, every time I post a new song, people hit it like the red-headed stepchild and my bandwidth is exceeded, meaning nobody except the first two or three people get the song. So, I'll be looking for somewhere else to host my shit, but until then, if you get the "bandwidth limit" page from geocities, just try checking back in an hour, or so.

Thanks for your patience!

-DIB.

[note in the above figure, I have filled in the red status bar to let you all know what it usually looks like, so even though it says "0%" used, that was only for the few minutes when I took that screen cap. I put it there so you all can see that in the last 30 days, 380 hits have been refused, so that's why I'm trying to figure out which provider I'm going to pay to help me with this mp3 hosting problem I have.]

More DK

2006-01-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

My friend over at Chronicle Disposition has posted another DK mp3 on his website. See if you can find it in one of his rants!

[hint: The song is "Too Drunk to Fuck"]

-DIB.

Politi-punk Monday - One more for the Angry Playslist

2006-01-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Dead Kennedys - Police Truck (live)

Yes, I know, this song (the original version, not the live one) got a ton of attention 5 or 6 years ago when the first Tony Hawk video game came out, and it's ceartainly not the most angry DK song out there, but I realized that I only have two DK CDs from which to make these here MP3s... so this is what you're gonna get.

If you don't already know, this
live record came out last year, with an unreleased song and an early version of "Holiday in Cambodia" with slightly different lyrics.

For more information on DK, visit your local library.

-DIB.

Buy DK Shit
Buy Jello Biafra's Shit
Read about GAP and DK together.

Sorry, As Usual

2006-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, as usual, I didn't get up a post this week or last week or the one before that. I promised DK and that will still happen, but I've been super busy. I really will try to make time this weekend to get some new music up.

-DIB.

I Hate Tourists

2005-12-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie to you... I'm straight up ripping this post off from the excellent blog, Punk Vinyl, but it was so appropriate, given this Angry Song kick I've been on, recently. Plus, it's a better blog than DIB. I'm man enough to admit that...

The Freeze - I Hate Tourists

Enjoy, and head over to Punk Vinyl for more on The Freeze and other great old-school punk! I probably won't be posting until late next week, but when I do, be ready for the angriest DK song I can find in my collection! (at least, on my CD collection, since I can't turn vinyl into mp3's yet... still another reason to read Punk Vinyl!).

-DIB.

PS - Buck Fush.

Cheney, Ctd.

2005-12-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

"It's the right thing to do"

Vice-Presidential DIB

2005-12-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

From Think Progress, regarding the secret wire-tapping: (Think Progress words in red)

Vice President Cheney from tonight’s Nightline:

It’s the kind of capability [that], if we’d had before 9/11, might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11.

We had two 9/11 terrorists in San Diego prior to the attack in contact with al Qaeda sources outside the U.S. We didn’t know it. The 9/11 Commission talks about it. If we’d had this capability, then we might well have been able to stop it.

This is false and sensational. The secret surveillance program authorized by President Bush did not provide the National Security Agency any new “capability.”

The NSA “already had the capacity to read your mail and your e-mail and listen to your telephone conversations. All it had to do was obtain a warrant from a special court created for this purpose. The burden of proof for obtaining a warrant was relaxed a bit after 9/11, but even before the attacks the court hardly ever rejected requests.” Indeed, from 1979 to 2002, the FISA court issued 15,264 surveillance warrants. Not a single warrant application was rejected.

Nothing in the law pre-9/11 prevented the federal government from conducting surveillance operations on terrorists. Cheney simply can’t resist using that tragedy to shield himself from criticism.

What bothers me most of all is why this had to be done in secret. TPM has more about how the FISA court (which gives out warrents to spy legally) has only denied 4 out of roughly 1800 requests since its inception 26 years ago! Furthermore, to suggest that the FISA court is slow is totally misleading, since there are measures in place to get the warrent 3 days after you start spying! What are they doing that has to be so secretive?

-DIB.

Morning In America

2005-12-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

Continuing the theme of angry music, I bring you Good Riddance!

Good Riddance - Weight of the World

The feeling is definitely there
It's a new morning in America:
Fresh, vital. The old cynicism is gone.
We have faith in our leaders.
We're optimistic as to what becomes of it all.
It really boils down to our ability to accept.
We don't need pessimism.

And what about the times you did your best
to assuage my troubled soul
what happened to me
what happened to you
what was it that you said would see us through
I want to know how to feel something real
and I will try no more to run
all this pressure getting closer
and it seems like I've been here before

time on my hands
weight of the world
laid bare my soul
as I lose control

run away
you can retrace those steps and find your way once more
I'll wait
believe in yourself as the cruel world closes in
take my hand
I'll be a friend for you this weight you bare alone
one day
the light I know will illuminate your heart

Buy Good Riddance Records from Fat Wreck and enjoy one of the many other free GR MP3s from Fat Wreck (and their newly designed website):
*Steps.

Discalimer: Music hosted by this website is only available for a few days, and is for trial purposes only. If you like it, please go buy the music from the aritsts, record lables, or other retailer. Enjoy and support indie bands!!

-DIB.

Angrier, Still (now with more explicit lyrics!)

2005-12-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

30 Foot Fall - How I Became The Jerk

I think the title of today's song speaks for itself, so no further commentary will be necessary except to say that I've posted 30 Foot Fall before, when I was doing music about bikes. This song is more representative of their style, and it's f*ckin' awsome (in the first 30 foot fall post, I said that 2 Wheels, 1 Dark Lord wasn't representative of their sound).

Please buy 30 Foot Fall Records and enjoy this mp3 responsibly!

-DIB.

Lame Repost

2005-12-12T10:24:00.000-08:00

In case you're interested in bolstering your ANGRY playlist on your iPod (or similarly fancy MP3 player), go download and then buy the new Propagandhi album.

Propagandhi - Die Jugend Marschiert (America's Army)

I mentioned this MP3 before, when I posted about Prop. weeks ago, but It's worth reposting. Please read the lyrics, which take the form of a speech to parents of soldiers at Westpoint.

Bonus: Wilhelm Scream Video!

2005-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Famous Friends and Fasnionable Drunks.

Special thanks goes to John Little for sending some traffic this way for recent links to my MTX post and my post about A Wilhelm Scream!

More Angry

2005-12-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Truly, I am sorry for the lack of posts lately. I enjoy doing this, and I hope the people who read this get something out of it.

So now on to the music: more angry shit. Today's selection is

A Wilhelm Scream - Famous Friends and Fashionable Drunks

Here's the first half of the lyrics:

Rule one is, hang up the phone
'Cuz if you knew what's next,
You'd never chase another dream again.

All you wanted was an answer, not just to suffer.
Who are you weighing down?
All you wanted was the offer, not just to suffer.
It's not the end.

Rule 6 is to hold your tounge.
'Cuz you're fucked if you forget:
Rules 3 &4 &5 were made by them

Not much else to say on that, except please enjoy responsibly. If you like AWS, visit their website and buy their shit. I know I did.

Presidential Dump-In-A-Box

2005-11-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is exactly the kind of thing that the phrase "DIB" is supposed to describe: a piece of shit, boxed up in a fancy package made to look nice. We'll we're not buying it!

After two-and-a-half years and 2,110 U.S. fatalities, the Bush administration finally released a "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" (NSVI). The problem is, it's not a new strategy for success in Iraq, it's a public relations document. The strategy describes what has transpired in Iraq to date as a resounding success and stubbornly refuses to establish any standards for accountability. It dismisses serious problems such as the dramatic increase in bombings as "metrics that the terrorists and insurgents want the world to use." Americans understand it's time for a new course in Iraq. Unfortunately, this document is little more than an extended justification for a President "determined to stay his course."

[snip]

The NSIV is less of a strategy and more of a pat on the back. Much of the 35 pages is devoted to describing how well things are going. Oddly, the strategy declares on Page 5 that "Our Strategy Is Working." On the economic front we are told, "Our restore, reform, build, strategy is achieving results." On the political front: "Our Isolate, Engage, and Build strategy is working." On the security front: "Our clear, hold, and build strategy is working."

-DIB.

New Music Monday

2005-11-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been extremely frustrated by work, in addition to the role my country plays on the world stage. That is, I'm angry about the big picture, but lately I've also been angry about the little picture. Work is busy and I'm running up against a deadline... you know, the kind of thing everybody has to face. Fortunately, I live a pretty cushy life-style (let's just say, Mrs. DIB brings home the facon-bacon) and rarely have to deal with anything too stressful at my job.

But the point of this post is anger, and before I go on getting all wordy, I'll just say that the next few songs I'll be posting are the angriest songs I can find. So if you're in a bad mood, crank these tunes up (and of course, go buy the albums!).

The first angry song is Rise Against - State of the Union. It's about the "president" mis-leading the USA into the war in Iraq. I was going to post just my favorite lines form the song, but since I think they're all great, here's the lyrics:

If we're the flagship of peace and prosperity
We're taking on water and about to fuckin' sink
No one seems to notice, No one even blinks
The crew left the passengers to die under the sea

COUNTDOWN, to the very end,
Equality, an invitation that we wont extend
READY AIM, pull the trigger now,
its ON you firmly secure your place in hell

State of the union address,
reads war torn country still a mess
the words: power, death, and distorted truth
are read between the lines of the red, white, and blue

COUNTDOWN, to the very end,
Equality, an invitation that we wont extend
READY AIM, pull the trigger now,
its TIME you firmly secure your place in hell
your place in hell
your place in hell

GUILTY, is what our graves will read,
no year, no family, we did nothing (NOTHING)
to stop the murder of, of people, just like us

Fuck it all. Just turn it up, get pissed, and then go out and do something productive.

-DIB.

Buy Rise Against Albums
Visit Rise Against

Two Full Albums

2005-11-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

One from YT Cracker and one from MC Chris.

If you've been around the internerd, or if you watch Cartoon Network you've probably already heard of MC Chris. He plays Hesh on Sealab 2021 and MC Pee Pants on ATHF. Both of these albums are of the nerd-core rap genre, just so you know what you're getting into before you go ahead and DL two albums. If you're into video games, Star Wars, getting high on Robitussin, or using sound effects from old NES Roms to make raps, then these two albums won't dissappoint. If you're looking to get just one song from each to test it out, the two MC Chris songs I recommend are Fett's 'Vett (about Boba Fett's Corvette) and The 'Tussin (about getting high on dextromethorphan). From YT, I recommend Meganerd. It's truly the life story of so many people my age!

Enjoy responsibly,
-DIB.

Sorry

2005-11-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

For the lack of updates.... work is hell, you know.

There has been lots of DIB material in the news lately, notably the nomination of Alito to the Supreme Court, the "rescue me" emails from former FEMA director Michael Brown when he was New Orleans letting hundreds of people suffer and starve, the indictment last week which did NOT include Karl Rove, etc. Basically, there's been such a huge shit-storm that I can hardly keep up with it.

I will try to post some new songs this weekend, but I'm not promising anything. If you're desperate for punk or just new music, you can always clicky on the links on the links to the right.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

-DIB.

More DIB

2005-10-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

Speaking of poo...

Lyndon Johnson once claimed that Gerald Ford was too dumb "to walk and fart at the same time." Perhaps. But Ford could definitely fart while standing still, which he apparently did with alarming frequency and abandon. According to his Secret Service detail, the president would loudly let one rip and then always attempt to put the blame on one of them with indignant remarks like, "Jesus, did you do that? Show a little class."

--From Secret Lives of the Presidents by Cormac O'Brien (Quirk Books)

Dump In a Box for 21.Oct.05

2005-10-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Here.

In the midst of the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official in New Orleans sent a dire e-mail to Director Michael Brown saying victims had no food and were dying.

No response came from Brown.

Instead, less than three hours later, an aide to Brown sent an e-mail saying her boss wanted to go on a television program that night -- after needing at least an hour to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge, La., restaurant.

The e-mails were made public Thursday at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing featuring Marty Bahamonde, the first agency official to arrive in New Orleans in advance of the Aug. 29 storm.

Brown's the color of poo.

-DIB.

Propagandhi - Bonus MP3

2005-10-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Fat Wreck has an awsome MP3 from Prop. on their website from the new record. Check it out at http://www.fatwreck.com

-DIB.

Vegetarian

2005-10-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but Blogger's been acting funny and crashing my computer. It seems to be better now, though, so I'll try to get back to the once-a-week pace I was at before. And thanks for your patronage, as always! Now on to the music:

In the last post, the Nerf Herder song seems to talk a little bit about being a vegetarian, so I thought I'd kind of continue the theme with two vegetarian-themed songs today.

Propagandhi - Nailing Descartes to the Wall
Queers - Stupid Fucking Vegan

Propagandhi has a new record out this week, called Potemekin City Limits, and this selection is from an old-ish record of theirs on Fat Wreck Chrods called Less Talk, More Rock. It was one of the first really outwardly uber-political punk albums I heard when I first got into punk, and it's still one of my favorites. I put it right up there with Bad Religion's No Control, in terms of longevity and how it influenced my life.

The second selection is from the uber-old punk band, the Queers. I don't have much of an affinity for them, and I kind of think all their records have some great songs and some shitty ones, but this song is pretty good. It's from "Beyond the Valley of the Assfuckers."

Okay, that's all for today. Please listen responsibly and buy the records if you like the song and delete the file if you don't. Also, please don't sue me!

thanks,
-DIB.

Hotel California

2005-09-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Two songs called Hotel California, and neither one of them by that shitty band, the Eagles. The Nerf Herder song is a totally new take on Hotel Calif, with different lyrics and music, but the idea is the same. It's just been modernized to the fast food industry, instead of drugs. The version by Kid with Man Head is true to the original. I'm pretty sure they're broken up by now, but NH is still around. If you haven't heard of them, they're a bunch of old guys singing about being in high school. They practically invented nerd rock.

Kid with Man Head - Hotel California
Nerf Herder - Hotel California

Enjoy responsibly!

Buy NH records
NH website
Buy KMH records
KMH website

-DIB.

Sorry...

2005-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

...I haven't been posting new music. [Insert excuse seeking sympathy here]. I'll try to get something up on Sunday, so please keep coming back!

-DIB.

This Week's DIB

2005-09-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

R4NT (Reading For New Times) interviews the leader of a world-wide terrorist organization, and GWB is doing nothing about him. Be sure to read this interview with him by Crom. It'll change your life.

Crom: Would you say that the med's are partly responsible for some of the pendulum swings we've seen in your leadership since you became the de facto face man for Cobra?

Serpentor: Oh definitely, I mean one day I'm stuffing benzedrine down my throat like cheesecake at fat camp, and the next I'm eating meprobamate like peanut butter M&M's. I think sooner or later I'm going to just crash out and start snorting coke off Baroness' tits. That'll be a dark day for Cobra LA!

-DIB.

Songs about Vets

2005-08-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should have been a bit more sly and posted these songs on Memorial Day or Vet's. Day, or something, but I didn't. I hope you enjoy these two excellent songs, by two totally different bands.

Rilo Kiley - Love and War (11/11/46) (Indie/Emo Rock)
Ignite - Veteran (Hardcore Punk)

Lots has been written about Rilo Kiley, notably that both lead singer Jenny Lewis and guitar player Blake Sennete were child actors. If you want to know more about them, just google it. As for Ignite, I'm pretty sure they're broken up, but the band outwardly supported eco-terrorism (probably the non-violent kind). I don't know for certain if lead singer Zoli still does, but when I met him, I think he was working for Green Peace in Orange County.

Buy RK Records (search Rilo Kiley)
Buy Ignite Records (search Ignite)
Rilo Kiley Website
Ignite Website

Disc-lame-r - Please listen for a few days and if you like it, delete the file I gave you and go buy the CD. If you're in a band and want to be reviewed on DIB, send an email to dumpinabox@gmail.com.

-DIB.

PS - Sorry this post is so short and that I've been lazy about posting. Life's busy, you know?

Raging Family

2005-08-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Download an entire album!
Raging Family - Black Holes

I have no idea what I'm listening to, here, but at least it was free music! Think: Space-Rock-Opera, and you'll be part of the way to understanding it. Check it if you're interested, and be sure to thank Raging Family for making it freely available!

-DIB.

Unbelievable Dump In a Box

2005-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is exactly why Mrs. DIB and I satrted this blog.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2005 – The Defense Department today announced the first "America Supports You Freedom Walk" to honor the victims of 9/11 and America's military personnel, as well as to celebrate freedom.
The Freedom Walk will begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 in the Pentagon South parking lot, near the site where the airliner crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. The walk route will consist of a two-mile trek through Arlington National Cemetery, over the Potomac River, and will end by the reflecting pool on the National Mall, where a free concert featuring country music star Clint Black will take place.

By the way, if you're a brown-skin, don't bother showing up. Liberals and commie f@g$ should stay home, too.

Official ASYFW site
More

Let's not forget a most important fact: that Sept. 11 had NOTHING to do with Iraq, Iraqis, or Saddam Hussein, the current war in Iraq, or the veterans who died there, except that the Bush admin. lied about the connection in order to kill and maim thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

Fuck Bush.

-DIB.

Video Game Dump

2005-08-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Dump In A Box for this week is regarding violence in video games. I don't want to get too excited about this issue, because I feel that the debate is as stupid as the "intelligent design" debate: there is none. Violence enters our lives in every social situation, including (but not exclusive to) the internerd, movies, TV, video games, news papers, walking down the street, camping, etc. "Violence" exists everywhere in this world, and VG are hardly the reason that kids commit crimes. I would wager that the real reason has more to do with kids getting away with whatever they want when they're young, and feeling like they're untouchable when they're teenagers. The truth is, if a person lacks the moral clairity to know that shooting at cars if fucked up, then they should be in jail and therapy until they can figure it out. So should their adult guardians. And somehow I doubt that video games are solely responsible. So anyway, here's the DIB for the week, in the form of a question from CBS news to an asshat from Miami who hates video games and is trying to make a political career out of the situation:

Q: Is [video] gaming escapism?

A: Yes, just as Ted Bundy escaped into pornography. It is not a release of aggression. It is training for aggression.

That's right, video gammers are the same as serial killers! My response would be similar to these:

Ctrl+Alt+Del

Penny Arcade

VG Cats

Be sure to read the posts associated with each of these comics, too.

-DIB.

The Band SOFT

2005-08-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Soft

So here's my first review of a band that emailed DIB, hope you enjoy it!

I don't really know anything about this band. Maybe one thing I could do in the future is, you know, try to contact the band and stuff to find out about them, other than it's 5 guys. But the truth is, I'm really only here to review the music, so here goes. First of all, if you're expecting punk like I've mostly been posting, prepare to be disappointed. But just because the music isn't NOFX doesn't mean it sucks. Acutally, I've been listening to the 4 songs SOFT sent me almost nonstop for the last four days. It's hard for me to describe them, but I want to say they're kind of spacy and there's something ethereal about the music... I just can't put my finger on it. Of the 4 songs I have, I highly recommend "You Make Me Want to Die" (which you can listen to over at the band's website). The closest thing I can compare Soft to is Built to Spill, which is a good thing, of course. Then again, Soft doesn't really seem to have that hard edge (pardon the lame pun) that BTS have. BTS has those songs that just start out really mellow and winding, but then you hit this wall of sound. Soft is like the first part. Don't get me wrong... they have some great hooks and I completely enjoy their music. I just think BTS is an incomplete comparison

The production on these songs is much better than most of the amatuer shit you hear on the internerd, these days (see: most of the shit on myspace.com), and the singer has an excellent voice. I can't quite tell how big (famous/popular) this band really is, but they seem to play a bunch of shows in NYC and London, so they must have some kind of following, right? Anyway, It'll be totally worth your while to head over to www.TheBandSoft.com and give these four songs a download. "Droppin" is another gem you'll find there. I think you need to sign up for their distribution email list, and then you can get them (although I got to download them for free, being a big famous MP3 blog author!). Anyway, it'll be worth your while and if you live in the north east or the UK, you might want to check these guys out.

-DIB.

...She be my master

2005-08-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry DIB hasn't been updated recently. Mrs. DIB and I were on opposite sides of the county last week, and neither of us were near our home/offices where we can dabble with and update this here blog. Well, I hope you all continue to frequent this page, and as soon as I get back into the work routine (maybe by Wed. or Thurs.), I'll post some new songs.

And here's a nice Guaranteed Piece of Shit, courtesy of the "president": CNN.

Peace out, man,
-DIB.

The Bike Song

2005-07-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

I-45 - The Bike Song.

As I mentioned previously, here's the spin-off band from 30 Foot Fall. Also, since I'll be going out of town all next week, I need to be pack and I won't be posting while I'm out of town. When I get back, I think I'll finally review one of the bands that emailed us. If you'd like your band to be reviewed, drop us an email with a link to some mp3s: dumpinabox@gmail.com

Enjoy your weekend!
-DIB.

I-45 Bike Song

2005-07-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Will be up on Friday, I promise. I've been busy attending a conference this week, and I'll be out of town at another one next week, so you'll have to do without free music between Friday 22 July 2005 and probably the first week of August. Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

-DIB.

Dump-In-A-Rove

2005-07-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

As Mrs. DIB would say, Boo and Ya.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is suddenly facing damaging evidence that it misled the public by insisting for two years that presidential adviser Karl Rove wasn't involved in leaking the identity of a female CIA officer.

President Bush, at an Oval Office photo opportunity Tuesday, was asked directly whether he would fire Rove -- in keeping with a pledge in June, 2004, to dismiss any leakers in the case. The president did not respond.

For the second day, White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to answer questions about Rove.

I hope they fire that asshole. And I really hope that they keep getting drilled on lies like this.

The excellent blog Talking Points Memo has done an excellent job covering this story for a really, really long time.

-DIB.

Dump-In-A-Fox

2005-07-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

From MediaGuardian.co.uk

Fox News host, John Gibson, said before the blasts that the International Olympic Committee "missed a golden opportunity" by not awarding the 2012 games to France. "If they had picked France instead of London to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn't worry about terrorism. They'd blow up Paris, and who cares?" He added: "This is why I thought the Brits should let the French have the Olympics - let somebody else be worried about guys with backpack bombs for a while."

Fucking idiots.

-DIB.

New Music Topic: Music about Bikes

2005-07-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

30 Foot Fall - Two Wheels, One Dark Lord

Queen - Bicycle Race

Yeah, yeah, I know the second one is almost too obvious, but I couldn't resist. Apparently, neither could 30 foot fall, an excellent punk band from Texas. I'm almost certain they're broken up, but you can find all four of their records at amazon. I highly recommend any and all of them. The guitar player and singer are now in a wierd metal/hip-hop/funk band called I-45, who also have a bike song I'll be posting next week. Also, this particular song isn't a representative sample of what 30 Foot Fall sounds like. While they do songs like this once a record, or so, most of their stuff is more like Vandals: funny, irreverant, politically lefty (think: songs about bikes and being vegan), fast, and freakin' schweet.

I guess I don't have much to say, except please enjoy these songs responsibly.

-DIB.

I know...

2005-07-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

I said we'd post some new music this week, but it's been busy getting back into work after vacation. I promise that by Sunday night I'll have posted something new and interesting. Thanks for your patience!

-DIB.

Justice Souter

2005-06-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

See you at the"Just Desserts Café"!

Thanks to my friend G.S. for pointing me to this article.

-DIB.

Patience, Padawan

2005-06-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Mrs. DIB and I are out of town this week, but next week we'll post some new music. I did want to touch briefly on two things:

1) Mrs. DIB has a different perspective on the "eminent domain" discussion from last week. As an urban planner, she offered that eminent domain can be used as an important tool in urban development, and more importantly, urban re-development. Clicky.

2) Iraq/Sadam Hussein had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks in NYC and WDC, no matter what Bush might say. "They are trying to shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September the 11th, 2001." Link to Bush's speech from last night, when he lied to American several times.

This week's DIB is brought to you by your old house

2005-06-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Clicky.

In a shocking move (honestly shocking), the Supreme Court ruled that your local government can take your house against your will and raze it for any purpose. This has been true for a long time, as long as the purpose was for the "public good." That included schools, roads, libraries, etc. The new ruling says that private development is considered good for the public, because it can bring in taxes and other revenue to the government that gives your land away.

Now take a breath. Count to 10 before you think your going to shoot someone.

The good news is... now wait. There is none.

A few people feel like "well, the Court had to do this in order to protect the "eminent domain" deal local govts. have with their citizen... you know, that stuff about building schools, and such. But that doesn't seem to be what the case was about. The case was specifically discussing the removal of private homes for the purposes of a private hotel and some offices. To me, that's a very different kind of development than publicly-funded homless shelters and hospitals, and ruling against private devlopment probably wouldn't take away eminent domain. However, this ruling does give the opportunity for the worst possible scenarios we can imagine.

Actually, the most shocking thing about the ruling is how each of the justices ruled. Check this out, the DISSENT was O'Conner, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas. Yeah... they were the voices of reason. I think I know exactly what you're thinking: WHAAAA?

So, if you live in a nice, touristy area, get ready to move. Fancy new hotels will be put up on your property soon. What the fuck is the matter with this country?

Goodbye, property rights.

-DIB.

PS - Remember when I was making fun of flag burning? Get ready for a new amendment! And no, this isn't the kind of amendment that is of the "don't burn flags on other people's property or to fuck with them or to terrorize people." This is the kind of amendment that says you can't burn a flag to make a political statement of any kind... the bad kind of amendment.

Last Music about Music Post

2005-06-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the total lack of posts in the last 10 days.... you know {insert excuse about my life}. But it's almost done. {insert witty comment about how busy we all are and how the days are just flying past}. So here's the new music:

Mr. T Experience - Dumb Little Band
The Good Life - Entertainer

I would only be repeating what tons of other reviewers have to say about MTX, one of the longest-lived pop-punk bands of all time. I'd repeat the bit about how Dr. Frank (sings, guitars) continually re-invents himself as often as he does his band mates and his music. I'd repeat the part about how even the really really old MTX records sound modern and catchy, and how Dr. Frank has a real knack for songwriting and lyrical content. But mostly what I'd repeat is that MTX is a great Bay Area pop punk band, and if you haven't heard them, you're missing out.

The Good Life are a pretty new band, and just signed to Saddle Creek. So I guess that tells you what you're going to get (high quality shoe-gazer music, comes to mind). This song is pretty poppy, and I enjoy it a bunch. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the band except that one of the guys (Ryan Fox) used to play in another band called the Timeouts on Let's Go Records. Enjoy!

Buy MTX records
Buy Good Life records
Buy Timeouts records
Lookout! records
Saddle Creek records
Let's Go records

Disclaimer - Listen and enjoy. Don't abuse mp3 blogs or the artists featured. Content concerns should be addressed to dumpinabox@gmail.com, and if you're really upset that I enjoy sharing your music with other people, please let me know.

This Week, a D-DIB

2005-06-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Disney presents this week's Dump In A Box.

HONG KONG (AFP) - Disney, under fire from green groups for planning to offer shark's fin soup at its Hong Kong resort, announced a novel plan to ease activists' fears -- it will hand out leaflets explaining the cruelty of shark fishing with every bowl of the controversial dish.
[snip]
Disney has resisted calls to drop the luxury item and instead seeks to educate customers against buying it.

Look, if you think something is immoral, don't fucking do it. How about this: hand out the leaflet with EVERY dish you serve, and don't offer the shark fin soup! Yet another reason to boycott Disney....

-DIB.

In Case You're Bored

2005-06-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

There's a HUGE list of MP3 blogs to be had at The Tofu Hut. I know many readers of this site found us because the management at the Tofu Hut very kindly started linking to us way back when we were first born. And that was cool, because I'd been reading the Hut for several months. In fact, reading Tofu Hut was part of the reason Mrs. DIB and I started this here blog. The blog list has been republished many times, now, and in many places, but I'll link to the original. And feel free to spend some time at Tofu Hut, the model of an excellent and diverse MP3 blog.

-DIB.

Nerf Herder

2005-06-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Nerf Herder - Vivian

Nerf Herder is a nerd-core pop-punk band from Santa Barbara, CA and have written many songs about music. Here's one that I think is particularly catchy. And if you think the nerd-core is just a front, you should see them. They're old. They're balding. They don't look like punks. They actually wear golf-shirts, even when they're not golfing or pretending to be nerds. They actually are nerds! As further proof, check the name of their band: a Star Wars reference? Come on, how much nerdier can you get!

We hope you enjoy this track and we've been getting some emails from bands wanting to be reviewed on DIB. We'll try to get to that soon, so please be patient.

Also, there are tons of songs about music, and I've only posted a smattering here. I'll probably wrap this thing up soon, but I do want to post at least one more song next week in the category "Music About Music." Then I was thinking about one of the following themes: (1) songs about cops or (2) songs about being vegetarian/vegan/animal rights. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments section.

-DIB.

Buy Nerf Herder records. Also, they have some more mp3s on their page.

Disclaimer - MP3s are usually only hosted for ~10 days, and you should probably delete your downloads after that time, too, since they're for trial listenings only. Mrs. DIB and I run this blog of my own free will and we hope that the artists we feature appreciate the free advertising we give them. We also hope that the patrons of this blog like the music so much that they go and buy music by the artists.

Music about Music, Ctd.

2005-05-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

In keeping with our earlier post about being in a band, today we bring you Outtaline!

Outtaline - Main Support

Remember that old band The Faction? Well, professional skate boarder Steve Caballero used to play guitar for them. Then later, in the mid-90's, Cab played in a band called Soda. That band broke up in 1997 or 1998. And the bass player (Matt Ramirez from Audio Fungus) and drummer (Todd Jackson from Crash Course, Clay Wheels and the Odd Numbers) from Soda formed a new band called Outtaline. That band broke up in 2002, I think. The guitar player from Outtaline was named Paul Wotel, who played in Soda for a few shows near the end of their run, after Cab dropped out. Mrs. DIB and I knew Paul because we worked with him at a radio station. And to bring the discussion back to this particular song, Paul once told me that his proudest moment was playing today's track when Outtaline opened for Agent Orange at a small club in San Jose, CA. Mrs. DIB and I were there, and it was pretty cool. And finally, once and for all, to bring it even closer to home (for me that is), my proudest moment being in a band was opening for Outtaline!

Huge bonus: Todd and Paul have formed yet another band, this one called Cova. I highly recommend checking out their music.

I hope you listen to today's track and enjoy it as much as I do. I wouldn't say there's anything super special about it, but it's awfully catchy and it does fit in the category of "music about music!"

Buy Outtaline Records. not sure where you can get these, anymore.
Buy Cova Records. three song EP available.

Buy The Faction Records.
Buy Soda Records. perform a search for "Soda"
Buy Agent Orange Records.
Buy Audio Fungus Records. I don't think they put any out.
Buy Clay Wheels Records. actually, they're still around, but I didn't see anything for sale on their website.
Buy The Odd Numbers Records. perform a search
Buy Crash Course Records. don't know where you can get these

DIB for 26 May 2005

2005-05-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yes. That's right folks. In the year twenty-ought-five, we still have fucking cross burnings. Some people in this country are pathetic. Specifically, in North Carolina. See, a bunch of assholes burned three crosses last night. That's a DIB all its own, but get this:

Burning a cross without the permission of the property owner is a misdemeanor in North Carolina.

So terrorist activity by white people is the equivalent of jaywalking, but terrorist activity by colored people requires starting a war? What the fuck is wrong with these people!

Maybe I shouldn't be so bent out of shape about this because, after all, I can't find fault with everybody who burns a flag. But I do have a problem with people who burn a flag on someone else's property. Or in someone else's face to try and fuck with them or terrorize them. That's the key issue, and it's hard to think of a case where you could be burning a cross on someone else's property ("w/o permission") that isn't terrorism. So, and maybe I'm alone on this but I hope not, the DIB for the day is that cross burning is only a misdemeanor and therefore carries a maximum of only one year in jail.

-DIB.

Music: Pain - In a Band

2005-05-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Pain - In a Band

Today's song is one that might be an anthem for some of you, and I know that it is for me. I've been in a couple of bands, and even though they're never successful, I still love doing it. I spend money being a drummer and pay crazy rates for rehersal and studio time, and now most clubs want you to pay-to-play! That's a terrible practice, but it's a dump-in-a-box for a later day.

I think this song says it all, though

And as it seems to me that sheer volume of pay
Is not a gauge of self-esteem,
I never wanted to work inside a shop as a clerk
Or build my pension plan by being a company man,
I want to be in a band
[snip]
My parents still don't understand.

Pain are a nice little ska band that started when that whole Bosstones/Less than Jake punk/ska thing got popular, but for some reason, Pain didn't catch on in as much as some of the other, shittier, bands. (Remember Real Big Fish? Wow. They sang a song about lesbians. They must be cool!)

I think Pain brings a lot more to the table than 4 chords and trumpets. The song-writing, arrangements, and diversity of music on a Pain CD are so good as to be rare in this genre. Just check out the CD "Wonderful Beef" and you'll find a silly country-western themed song about a 7 inch tall cowboy (save your dirty jokes!) that sounds like a childrens song, a great song about being a book-worm instead of a jock, and wonderfully poppy and punk-y songs like In a Band.

Pain has also put out really fun record called Full Speed Ahead, which you can probably buy from Springman Records. That EP has an awsome Jabberjaw song! I mention it, though, because the CD version (not the vinyl version, of course) has the "In a Band" music video. It's honestly funny and well-done (for a cheap video), just like most of their music. So anyway,, I hope you like Pain and I hope you like this song. And if you're young or old and trying to be a musician, here's hoping!

By the way, Pain may be broken up buy now, since they haven't put out a record in about 4 years, but they did have an update to their webpage in March of this year, so who really knows?

You can buy PAIN cds here. If you're going to buy from amazon or any other big retailer, beware that there is an electro-techno-metal band called Pain, too. Consider yourself warned.

-DIB.

Finally: NOFX!

2005-05-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard finding time to be a world-famous blogger, but I did find time to make some new mp3's for you today. The new songs are both by NOFX, including the one I promised earlier.

NOFX - Separation of Church and Skate
NOFX - Dinosaurs Will Die

BUY NOFX records (seriously, you won't be disappointed).

I don't think I'm going to do a ton of commentary on these songs or this band because they've been written about extensively already. So here goes a quick take: Separation of Church and Skate is from NOFX's 2nd finest album of all time and is about the popularization of punk rock (I wrote a bit about a similar theme in the Outkast post below). At one point, lead singer Fat Mike (Mike Burkett, who started www.punkvoter.com and Fat Wreck Chords) says "I know it wasn't Duane or Fletcher / Who put up the barricades" and he's referring to Duane Peters of U.S. Bombs and the Hunns and Fletcher from Pennywise. I think the rest of the song is self-explanitory.

When did punk rock become so safe?
When did the scene become a joke?
The kids who used to live for beer and speed
now want their fries and coke
Cursing and flipping birds are not allowed,
in fact let's keep noise levels down
[snip]
I want conflict! I want dissent!
I want the scene to represent...
Our hatred of authority,
our fight against complacency
stop singing songs about girls and love!
You killed the owl! You freed the dove!
confrontation and politics...
Replaced with harmonies and shticks
When did punk rock become so tame?
These fucking bands all sound the same
We want our fights we want our thugs!
We want our burns we want our drugs!
where is the violent apathy?!
These fucking records are rated G!

The 2nd song for today is also about the music industry, but this time the blame is not on club owners or scene-sters, it's on the record companies (and I think Fat Mike has legitimacy in this area, because he said "fuck it all" and started his own company). The song is also very easy to understand, and the point is that soon, what with the success of hundreds of indy labels, the Sony/Universal/EMI/BMG labels will be gone.

We're gonna kill the 7 record deal
Make records that have more than one good song
The dinosaurs will slowly die
And I do believe no one will cry
I'm just fucking glad I'm gonna be
There to watch the fall

I'll just note one more thing, which is that we could do an entire CDs worth of songs, by NOFX, about music... "Please play this song on the radio", "Jaw, Knee, Music", "Punk Guy", "Whoa on the Whoas", "Medio-Core", and many others come to mind. Again, please, buy NOFX records if you don't have any. Enjoy these songs with the usual disclamers: delete after 7 days, please don't sue me, etc.

-DIB.

Continued DIB

2005-05-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

I know this fillabuster stuff is all over the news and internerd, and I already made a contribution here on DIB, but this is from Minority Leader Harry Ried's very moving and powerful statement today on the Senate floor:

Also, Republicans have not been accurate in describing the use of the filibuster. They say the defeat of a handful of President Bush's judicial nominees is unprecedented. In fact, hundreds of judicial nominees in American history have been rejected by the Senate, many by filibuster. Most notably, the nomination of Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice of the United States was successfully filibustered in 1968. And during the Clinton Administration, over 60 judicial nominees were bottled up in the Judiciary Committee and never received floor votes.

In addition, Republicans engaged in explicit filibusters on the floor against a number of Clinton judges, and defeated a number of President Clinton's executive branch nominees by filibuster. It's the same Advice and Consent Clause - why was a Republican filibuster of Surgeon General nominee Henry Foster constitutional, but a Democratic filibuster of Fifth Circuit nominee Priscilla Owen unconstitutional? The Republican argument doesn't add up.

[snip]

It is clear that the President misunderstands the meaning of the Advice and Consent Clause. The word "Advice" means "Advice." President Clinton, consulted extensively with then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Hatch. Senator Hatch boasts in his autobiography that he personally convinced President Clinton to nominate Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court instead of more controversial choices.

In contrast, this President has never ever sought or heeded the advice of the Senate. But now he demands our consent.

That's not how America works. The Senate is not a rubber stamp for the Executive branch. Rather, we're the one institution where the Minority has a voice and the ability to check the power of the Majority. Today, in the face of President Bush's power grab, that's more important than ever. Republicans want one-party rule. The Senate is the last place where the President and his Republican colleagues can't have it all. And, now President Bush wants to destroy our checks and balances to ensure that he does get it all.

Good for him. I hope this guy continues to give the Democrats a backbone. Read the rest of his speech.
Here's my first posting about this stuff.

-DIB.

New Music...

2005-05-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

...will be up tomorrow. Please be patient. While you're waiting, though, feel free to check out www.tofuhut.com, www.excellentonline.com, copycommaright.blogspot.com, and this new band Mrs. DIB and I saw last week, www.captain-ahab.com.

-DIB.

Fudgin' Poop - More Guaranteed Shit For This Week.

2005-05-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

I used to have respect for Sen. John McCain [R-Arizona] because I always ~~though~~ thought he was an honest politician. But ever since he became one of Bush's re-election campaign managers (despite the fact that a- Bush besmirched his name and reputation routinely in the 2000 Repug. Primary and b- McCain said repeatedly (including on the Daily Show) that he didn't think W. Bush was fit to be president), I've ~~lot~~ lost a ton of respect for him. And now this, regarding the "nuclear option" (or noo-kyu-lur op'shen, as the monkey president would say):

"This [fight over the right to fillabuster] all started with the Democrats abusing the process by filibustering so many of President Bush's nominees," McCain said on "American Morning." "I believe the Democrats, at least the moderate ones, have learned that this filibuster should be used only in extreme cases and judiciously.
[emphasis mine]

Uhhhh.... really. "So many?" How many is that, exactly?

Democrats ... have filibustered 10 of Bush's 218 nominees, arguing those picks are too conservative to be fair judges.
(emphasis mine)

Ahhh... but let's not forget something, Republicans didn't fillabuster ANY of Clinton's judicial nominees, so 4.5% is a huge increase in fillabusters, right? Well, actually no. That's because Republicans didn't have to fillabuster. See, they controlled the committee which reviews the judges and passes them through to the whole Senate to vote on. And how many did they block using their preffered method?

Dozens of District Court nominees from 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 with unanimous "well-qualified" or "qualified" ratings also were blocked by Republican refusal to give them hearings or votes. In all, nearly 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees were defeated through Republican blocking of hearings and votes, despite their ABA ratings. ... While only two of President Bush's judicial nominees have been defeated in open votes, nearly 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees were defeated through secret, anonymous holds and other secretive, non-transparent Republican tactics.
[source]
[I was pointed here by a Kos Diary]

I'm sorry, which party "abuses" the process when ~~their~~ they're not getting their lollypop? Democrats are using this in "extreme" cases only, which are less than 5% of all of Bush's nominees! Whereas many, many more of Clinton's nominees were not given the courtesy "of getting fair up-or-down votes on judicial nominees" (Sen. Frist, that "doctor" who thinks that AIDS can be transmitted through tears and sweat... that "doctor" who saw a 10 year old video of Terry Schaivo and "diagonsed" her as not in a permant vegetative state... the Senate Majority Leader who coined the phrase "nuclear option", then blamed it on Dems. when other Republicans decided it sounded to extreem and ugly.)

I can't stand hipocracy.

-DIB.

Updated at noon thirty for spelling corrections... and it was Trent Lott who coined the phrase. Thanks annonymous comment!

This Week's Dump In A Box

2005-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Dump.

Today's dump brings you two logs for the price of one! It's a genuine two-fer, so see if you can find the second, hidden DIB. It's just loaded with all kinds of corn nibblets and half-digested Texas-sized country-fried chicken-steak. With a side of Angus Shit.

Nobody in any other country gets to complain about their money anymore, becuase we're going to have Ronald Freakin' Regan on our coins. No more business of "our money's all different sizes" becuase soon I'll have to spend a coin with Dick Nixon's smug unhappy little face on it. Nobody gets to say "I didn't vote for this guy (or, I didn't even get to vote), why is his face on the [xxx] note?" Because in a few years, I'll have to look at a guy most people in this country didn't vote for, but was nominated and installed as president by his father's croonies. In that same moment, when I'm paying an outrageous fee for a National ID card that will transmit my entire life-history, credit report, bank card numbers and medical history to anybody with a radio, I might be handing over a coin with said father's fucking face on it!!

I can't wait.

-DIB.

UPDATE - 13.Apr.05 3:36pm
More on the National ID

Once and For All

2005-05-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is from the DIB family's favorite movie, Tommy Boy. Here's the quote from IMDB

Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted, why do they put a guarantee on a box? Hmm, very interesting.
Ted: I'm listening.
Tommy: Here's how I see it. A guy puts a guarantee on the box 'cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What's your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy, but we're not buying it. Next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser and your daughter's knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted: But why do they put a guarantee on the box then?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for right now, for your sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality item from me.

Hope that clears up what this blog is supposed to be about, besides the occasional MP3 posting. We really appreciate everybody who has come by in the last 2 weeks since we started this thing... please keep coming back and feel free to contact us regarging the content and/or quality of the blog.

Outkast and Koufax

2005-05-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here are my first two songs that aren't punk, but don't worry... there's a ton more punk on this list!

Outkast - Ghetto Musick
Koufax - Minor Chords

Buy Outkast records.
Buy Koufax Records.

Everybody has probably heard about Outkast and this song already (since it's pretty popular) and so there's no need for an introduction; and, since I'm not very well versed in Outkast history, I wouldn't be able to contribute much in that way, either. Here's what I do know about this one album of theirs that I have: The two artists, Big Boi and Andre 3000 (the one who does Hey Ya!) put out two completely different types of records and put it in one jewel case. It actually works really well because you can just buy the one album and run the gamut from funk, pop, hard core hip-hop, and comedy for just a few bucks. As for this particular song, it's got an increadibly fast pace and some outstanding rhymes. I think it's about how Big Boi feels the hip-hop community has become so popular that so many artists are getting away with putting out shit. That's just a guess, but the first line is "Find a way to get in, to fit in". I'm probably totally missing the point, but you can decide for yourself. Here are some more lyrics:

Planet's standards tome they have no purpose
Campaign in vein for the same lame fame you obtain
You `ought to be detained by the hip hop sheriff
Locked up, no possibility of getting out
Because the shit you make is killing me
And my ears and my peers
I hear the end is near, no fear we disappear
Then reappear again in a fresh new light
I hope its peaceful and cloudy cause if its not we gotta fight like...

G-h-e-t-t-o-m-u-s-i-c-k stay down
O-u-t-k-a-s-t (oooh yeah) best know that we don't play `round
If it don't stank like they stank then they can't swallow that down
Your battleship is sunk, I wish grandma could see us

That's a long bit of lyrics I put in there, but the issue he's talking about is a familiar one. Next time, I promise I'll post this NOFX song, dealing with a similar question for punks: "when did punk rock become so safe?" I wonder if Big Boi was influenced by that old BDP song Ghetto Music, which seems to be about making "Ghetto Music" to get famous. Big Boi's version might be a dig at that, suggesting that anyone can make "ghetto music" (i.e.-rap) and become famous.

As for Koufax, they're an indie-rock band with a lot of piano, keyboards and synthesizers (what's new, right?). This song is about the question: "why do all love songs try to tug at our heart-strings by playing a bunch of minor chords?" It's a pretty simple song, but has a nice little hook for the intro that gets repeated a bunch and I really like it. I hope you all enjoy it, too.

Why is it every song, needs one?
I'm getting ready for the day
When this is just a joke.
And we can laugh out loud,
Thinking about those folk

-DIB.

Disc-Lame-Er: (for the artists) Please don't sue me! These tracks were obtained legally and all I'm trying to do is expose more people to your awsome music. Hopefully they'll buy your records. (for the down-loader) Please delete these MP3s, which I host at my own risk, after 7 days. If you like the music, please buy it. If you don't, then at least nobody will tell you your closed-minded when it comes to music because you've tried listening to different things.

More Music About Music

2005-05-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the next two songs:

Strung Out - Radio Suicide
Tsunami Bomb - Negative One to Ten

Buy Strung Out records.
Buy Tsunami Bomb records.

More Strung Out MP3s (scroll down)
More Tsunami Bomb MP3s.

I don't know a ton about either band, but I do know that Strung Out has gotten more and more metal-y since they started and that Tsunami Bomb has gotten better and better since they started. I think every time TB puts out a new album, it's better than the last. What I find slightly annoying about TB is that their production values are super high, which gives them an almost artifical/synthesized sound... like it's too clean to be punk. I saw them live a couple times years ago and they are (at least, they were) very raw on stage. Strung Out I saw only once on a Warped Tour and wasn't really impressed. I think they're excellent musicians, I just don't like anything they've put out except Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues, from which I took today's track.

Enjoy them while you can!

-DIB.

Disc-lame-er: MP3s are for trial listenings only... please listen, enjoy, learn about new music, then delete and buy the album (or song) for yourself, like I did. I assure all of the artists featured that I have leagally obtained these tracks, but if you still have beef with me, please contact and I will oblige any request. If you are a musician and would like to be featured on DIB, contact me as well. dumpinabox@gmail.com

This Week's Dump in a Box

2005-05-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

Click

I got to this article from here.

It seems that the new Iraqi gov't. and police are threatening the newly freed Iraqi press.

The fall of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship resulted in unprecedented freedom for Iraqi journalists, who'd suffered torture and prison terms for criticizing the former regime. More than 150 new newspapers and several local TV and radio stations sprang up immediately after the war began - one of the biggest success stories of the U.S.-led invasion. In recent months, however, Iraqi police have begun cracking down on local journalists, creating a wave of fear reminiscent of Saddam's era.

[snip]

Although Baghdad is the main hub for Iraqi journalists, complaints have poured in from other provinces, said Ibrahim al Sarraj, director of the Iraqi Association to Defend Journalists. In southeastern Iraq, he said, a weekly newspaper was shut down in October for criticizing the governor of the Wasit province. A judge related to the governor sentenced two editors to several months in prison, Sarraj said. The court papers accused the men of "cursing and insulting" the politician.

In the northern town of Baqouba, a cameraman for a local TV station was filming a mosque when Iraqi troops detained him on April 9 for trespassing "in a prohibited place" and for shooting videos that could be used to help insurgents. He's still in custody, said Salah al Shakerchi, one of the man's colleagues at Al Diyar TV.

Need I say more? Here we have the Iraqi (and U.S.) government telling us how wonderfully free everyone in Iraq is and what a bastion of democracy it will be, but freedom of the press is a necessary part so that the citizens can actively partake in governance. Instead it's just another box of shit marked "Guaranteed."