He was looking for a job. And then he found a job...

Ever wonder what it would be like to work for Morrissey? Well one man found out and lived to tell about it. After being inexplicably fired after one day on the job. Apparently the vetting process to be a roadie for Moz is waaaay more thorough and exhaustive then it is for Vice President. Read about the cryptic, divalicious exploits here. Well I guess that means the positions open. If you want it, here's a hint: don't admit to buying Elton John records, even as a kid.


Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths

Work is a Four Letter Word - The Smiths

The stuff your indie wet dreams are made of...

Ok, ok so it's like really hard to believe Zooey would ever have a hard time getting her way. I mean all she has to do is bat her eyes, curtsy and twirl in her cute little dresses and she's got the world bowing before her. Nevertheless, I totally buy her take on the Smiths classic.

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - She & Him (The Smiths cover)

Ask me, Ask me, Ask me!

Never had no one ever? Well if you live in the NYC area then this event is totally for you:


More info here

Hey you could met someone as mopey as you or perhaps your charming man! Ok, ok I'll stop with the lame puns. Those jokes aren't funny anymore. Sorry couldn't resist!

Ask - The Smiths
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths

Free + Covers = Awesome

I love cover albums. I also love free stuff. So combine the two and I'm ultra happy. Needless to say, indie-poppers the Morning Benders have really made my weekend as their Bedroom Covers album is available for free download. It's complete with reinterpretations of classics by the Smiths, Velvet Underground, Roy Orbison and more.

Here's my fave track:

I Won't Share You - The Morning Benders (The Smiths cover)

Spoon covers The Smiths - Swooooon

Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso for unearthing this cover. The thought of Spoon covering The Smiths makes me wet myself. But then I actually listened to it. Yep, my suspicions were confirmed - it's sexy! But then again so is every word Britt Daniels utters.

Panic - Spoon (The Smiths cover)

"I just got broken up with and we weren't even dating."

Received the following email yesterday (names have been changed):

You need to work some magic. I feel like I just got broken up with, and we weren't even dating. Steve sat me down VERY nicely and wanted to clarify with me that he doesn't return the feelings I so clearly and artlessly display for him on a regular basis. I am a mess. I feel broadsided. He was WONDERFUL about it which sucks because if he was an asshole, I would be angry and bitchy and feel justified in hating him. As it is, his actions were carefully and deliberately designed to preserve our friendship, which he hopes, sincerely, will last forever.

And it probably will.

But I still feel like I just got run over by a dump truck. And I'm angry at myself because oh shit have I been here before; I'm walking in relational circles.

So, here's my request. I would like for the mix masters of VK to make for me and my stupid wounded heart a playlist with the theme, "I just got broken up with and we weren't even dating."

If you all don't have time, by all means I understand. But I think it would make for an excellent theme, and a good challenge, anyway.

We ladies here at VK know your plight and feel your pain. Here's an hour and a half of tunes we wrangled together to commiserate and help you deal, in confusion sadness and anger (or lack thereof):

Barcelona - Why Do You Have So Much Fun Without Me.mp3

The Bens - Bruised.m4a

The Beatles - I'll Follow the Sun.mp3

Beulah - Landslide Baby.mp3

Brendan Benson - Feel Like Myself.m4a

Eamon - Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back).m4a

Jude - I'm Sorry Now.mp3

Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me.mp3

The Lucksmiths - A Hiccup in Your Happiness.m4a

The Magnetic Fields - I Thought Your Were My Boyfriend.mp3

The Magnetic Fields - The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be.mp3

The Mayflies USA - I Was the One.m4a

of Montreal - Eros' Entropic Tundra.mp3

OK Go - It's Tough To Have A Crush When The Boy Doesn't Feel The Same Way You Do.mp3

OK Go - Get Over It.mp3

Rufus Wainwright - 14th Street.mp3

Rufus Wainwright - Danny Boy.m4a

Smashing Pumpkins - An Ode to No One.mp3

The Smiths - I Know It's Over.mp3

Sufjan Stevens - Dumb I Sound.mp3

They Might Be Giants - Snail Dust.mp3

Tori Amos - Cruel (live).mp3

Tori Amos - Over It (B's Over the Pool mix).mp3

Tori Amos - here. in my head..mp3

The Vandals - My Girlfriend's Dead.mp3

Wilco - We're Just Friends.m4a

Work Mix

A smattering of songs to help you make it through the working week...

Work Is A Four Letter Word - The Smiths

On My Way To Work - Bright Eyes

It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career - Belle & Sebastian

Welcome to the Working Week - Elvis Costello

I Can't Wait to Get Off Work - Tom Waits

Workingman's Blues #2 - Bob Dylan

She Works Hard for the Money - Donna Summer

Manic Monday - The Bangles

I Never Go To Work - They Might Be Giants

Minimum Wage - They Might Be Giants

Why Don't You Get a Job - The Offspring

Nice Work If You Can Get It - Fred Astaire

Work Song - Nellie McKay

Working On The Highway - Bruce Springsteen

You Ain't No Picasso - Bishop Allen
I would like you better if you had a job...

My favorite bands cover my other favorite band.

You've probably all seen this by now (those Radiohead webcasts spread fast!). But I shall post it regardless, because I just love, love, love how Thom Yorke nearly yodels the chorus. It is agony expressed as joy. And it is swell.



And here's the mp3:
The Headmaster's Ritual - Radiohead (The Smiths cover)

And one more very, very recent Smith cover sighting. The Arcade Fire played a rollicking rendition of "Still Ill" while touring through Manchester (where else?) just a few short weeks ago.

Still Ill - Arcade Fire (The Smiths cover)

Stop Me If You've Seen This One Before

By now you've probably heard Morrissey has turned down 75 million dollars (that's 40 million pounds to all you Brits), and thus dashed all our dreams for a Smiths' reunion. Anyways the recent turn of events provides me with an excuse to post this clip from a time when the Smiths were still the Smiths. Watch as they appear on an English children's TV show and dash the dreams of elementary school youngsters everywhere, while riding, what else, a double-decker bus! Priceless.

Mix tape!

There's about 23,984 birthdays happening right now, so what's better than the gift of music? Here is a mix a made for one person. (Another will follow shortly.)
21 tracks / Total time: 1:17:04 (yes, it fits onto one Audio CD!) Enjoy!

Side "A"
I'm From Barcelona - The Painter.mp3 (from Let Me Introduce My Friends)
a 29-member band from Sweden. They are so happy with their limited English!

Little Horse - Running Just Ahead Of The Devil.mp3 (from Perils And Thrills EP)
This is how Ben Folds would be if he were brothers instead of one guy, and some Spanish flair.

Cibo Matto - Birthday Cake.mp3 (from Viva! La Woman)
"Cibo Matto" meaning "strange food." Who wouldn't want a birthday cake with "extra sugar, extra salt, extra oil and MSG!"

Franz Ferdinand - Michael.mp3 (from Franz Ferdinand)
Namedropping for the person this mix is for.

Sufjan Stevens - In the Words of the Governor.mp3
You wouldn't believe this was Sufjan if I didn't tell you, but it's his newest song. Harkening back to his "Enjoy Your Rabbit" days, does the phrase "screamo" mean anything to you?

Saul Williams - Grippo.mp3 (from Saul Williams)
The last song reminds me of this one, sonically.

Patrick Wolf - The Libertine.mp3 (from Wind In The Wires)
Taking it down a notch somewhat, I love the pulsing rhythym, the unusual instrumentartion and strained strings.

Joe Jackson - Angel (Lust).mp3 (from Heaven & Hell)
"Heaven&Hell" came out nearly a decade ago and it still awes and amazes. Seven songs for seven deadly sins, each lyrically and acoustically appropriate to its topic. Here, we have a saucy Suzanne Vega on vocals catcalling men.

Lyle Lovett - Here I Am.mp3 (from Lyle Lovett and His Large Band)
I have long considered performing the spoken parts as a monologue. Perhaps at an audition. Anything. I just want to say these words in front of large groups of peole with the passion that Lyle delivers here.

Jeff Buckley - New Year's Prayer.mp3 (from Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk)
Jeff Buckley needs neither reason nor explanation, expecially for such a darkly ethereal track.

Side "B"
Bascom Lamar Lumford - I Wish I Were a Mole in the Ground.mp3 (from Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Sons of Western North Carolina)
BLL was a lawyer during the Great Depression. He wrote one fantastic album, and this is my favorite cut off it.

Daniel Johnston - Etiquette.mp3 (from Continued Story)
Daniel Johnston speaks to me. Here he offers the lowest-of-the-fi kind of song with his buddy: simple, happy and fun with some good advice on "how to make friends and influence people."

The Mountain Goats - Golden Boy.mp3 (from Ghana)
More ultra low-fi. John Darnielle must REALLY love these peanuts. I've never had them myself, but I'm obsessed with the funniness of the song, so I think today I might go out of my way to find a pan-Asian supermarket to find those golden boys from Singapore.

The Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers.mp3 (from Holiday)
This song contains such amazing imagery.

Les Sexareenos - Everybody Sexareeno!.mp3 (from Live! In The Bed)
They are putting the FUN back into RAWK. I especially love the "Hang on Sloopy" part in the middle.

The Beatles - What Goes On.mp3 (from Rubber Soul)
Some classic but not cliche Beatles, to sort to tie things together with a shred of familiarity.

Nickel Creek - Spit On A Stranger.mp3 (from This Side)
This is their cover of a Pavement song. It's much better than their cover of a Britney Spears song.

The Divine Comedy - Gin Soaked Boy.mp3 (from A Secret History)
The happiest, most positive and rhymingest song, with the BEST second-to-last-line EVAR.

The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain.mp3 (from The Best Of The Smiths, Vol. 2)
Awwww, Morrisey attempts to be somewhat non-melancholic!

Mirah - La Familia.mp3 (from Joyride: Remixes)
A song I am obsessed with from an [Ever]Greener Grad. It's always important to distinguish, with a chorus like this, that it is a PONDERANCE ONLY and not a proposition.

Future Bible Heroes - The Lonely Robot.mp3 (from The Lonely Robot EP)
Epic story-songs always make for the best end credits.