Last Monday, I wrote about Still Flyin’ and their prime mover and shaker, Sean Rawls. I even mentioned that the good Mr. Rawls, who keen observers will notice has a thing for t-shirts over collars, formally strung strings in two other bands, Masters of the Hemisphere and Je Suis France.

Thanks to the magic of (legal!) download service E*Music, I have tasted their wares, and now I can feed them to you.

Masters Of The Hemisphere - Billy Mitchell (buy)
Je Suis France - Weightless Work (buy)

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Kate Sheppard got her start in the biz as a beat reporter on “a vegetable farm in southern New Jersey,” where she covered car crashes and Buddhist ceremonies as a staff writer for the Bridgeton News. She’d be embarrassed if she knew that I told you this, but: “At the age of 12, she orchestrated a protest at her elementary school.”

Now, many years and many protests later, she is one of two new writing fellows at The American Prospect. Thus far, she’s been covering climate change at the UN and illegal sex toys in Alabama.

She also listens to music.

1) What is the first website (other than your own or email) that you visit in the morning? The New York Times or Net Vibes, my RSS reader

2) What is the most interesting bit of information that you’ve picked up in the past month? Selling sex toys is illegal in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, and having just one dildo for sale could land you $10,000 in fines and a year in jail.

3) How would you describe your taste/interest in music? I have an historic inclination toward whiny indie rockers with strange voices and illogical lyrics, as well as hairy, angry women. My tastes of late have mellowed some, to what one might call “sad bastard” music, though I also have a fondness for funk, soul, hip-hop, Latin pop, and … violent dance punk.

4) Name five of your favorite songs at the moment (in no particular order).

1) Betty Davis – He Was A Big Freak
2) Elvis Perkins – While you were sleeping
3) TV on the Radio – I was a lover
4) Feist — 1234
5) Cold War Kids – Hang me up me dry

5) Name five of your favorite albums of all time (in no particular order).

1) Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
2) Ani DiFranco – Not a Pretty Girl
3) Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
4) Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Airplane Over the Sea
5) Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom

6) What are some songs to which you have a particular emotional attachment? “Am I Wrong,” Love Spit Love; “With a Little Help from My Friends,” Joe Cocker; “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen; Buildings and Bridges,” Ani DiFranco; and, uh, “Baby Got Back,” Sir Mix-a-Lot

7) How did you first get interested in music and how has your taste developed since then? My earliest memories are dancing to Paul Simon’s Graceland in the house I grew up in, and my parents raised me on Paul Simon, The Band, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary. In fifth grade, an older cousin introduced me to Nirvana, Green Day, and all the wonders of grunge/alternative rock in the early ’90s. In middle school I first became interested in tough folky women with guitars via Ani DiFranco Tracy Chapman, and went to my first concert – Lilith Fair. Annnnnnnnd from there, a variety of people have introduced me to the funk, soul, electo-pop, teen-pop, hip-hop, math rock, rockabilly, the entire decade of the ’80s …

8) What are some of your musical guilty pleasures? Juanes, Steve Winwood, Boyz II Men, and Kelly Clarkson.

9) If you were running for President in 2008, what song would you use as your campaign theme? Aretha Franklin, “Think”

10) What is your opinion on downloading copyrighted material without paying for it? Well, I don’t do it myself, mostly because I couldn’t afford one of the absurd fines levied by the RIAA should they find me out, but I am always happy to take music from those who are more fearless in their downloading. On an ethical level, I don’t have that much of a problem with it, since I spend a lot of money on live shows, and I try to buy albums directly from the artists as much as possible. And pretty much nothing would make me feel bad for the RIAA.

Here are some songs that either make me think of Kate or which I think Kate would like.

1) Daniel Johnston - ‘Mac Davis Used To Do This’ (info)
2) Radiohead - Talk Show Host (buy)
3) The Western Suburb Singers - Come On, Give Us A Go (info)
4) Petra Haden - Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey Cover) (buy)
5) Bobby Bare, Jr. - What Difference Does It Make (Smiths Cover) (buy)
6) Erin McKeown - Blackbirds (buy)
7) Amy Rigby - Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again? (buy)
8) The Mattoid - Burn And Rob (info)
9) Maureen Tucker - Hey Mersh! (buy)
10) Y.A.C.H.T. - I Believe In You (buy)
11) Louden Wainwright III - Make Your Mother Mad (buy)
12) Betty Dylan - Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash Cover) (buy)
13) Kris Kristofferson - In The News (buy)
14) Jeffrey Lewis - Back When I Was 4 (buy)
15) Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti - Eclipse Do Cometa (buy)
16) Odetta - Masters Of War (Bob Dylan Cover) (buy)
17) 10cc - The Dean And I (buy)
18) The Fire Engines - Meat Whiplash (buy)
19) TV On The Radio - Walking The Cow (Daniel Johnston Cover) (buy)
20) Johnny Paycheck - Colorado Coo-Aid (buy)

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It’s Friday night lazy, time to party, special time. So, bring on the Doors, as channeled by Shirley Bassey in Vegas.

Shirley Bassey - Light My Fire (Doors Cover) (buy)

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Did you hear the news? Some rich men broke records in getting rich recently. Over $500 million, just for strumming guitars, acting pre-arthritic and living the life of luxury. Not bad for the old bag of bones.

Quick! For you photo hunt fans out there, it’s game time: Guess the Rolling Stone torso.

Winner gets to download the accompanying MP3 conscience-free.

And now for something completely more appealing: Merry Clayton — she of the knock you on your ass “Gimme Shelter” vocal. Legend has it that the exertion required for the song actually caused the then-pregnant Clayton to miscarry.

Ms. Clayton has her own version of the Let It Bleed track, which could best be described as awesome. As in, I am in awe of it.

Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones Cover) (buy)

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In testimony yesterday, for the first time ever, the recording industry argued it’s case in front of a jury for harshly cracking down on internet piracy of music. The case, which places a single mother from Minnesota on the receiving end of the crumbling industry’s vengeance, has brought to light the deep cynicism of the RIAA’s legal position. As stated by Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, the argument basically amounts to this:

So argues Ms. Pariser:

Pariser has a very broad definition of “stealing.” When questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own.

Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,” she said.

Now, I admit, there’s a logic to her argument, but it’s just not reasonable. Thus proving that logic and reason are not the same thing.

By Pariser’s logic, here’s a song I bought in order to steal from myself.

King Kong - Floor, Door, I Don’t Want To Party Anymore (buy)

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Saw Wes Anderson’s latest, The Darjeeling Limited, tonight.

Not quite sure how I’m reacting to it yet. I both enjoyed it and am feeling let down by it. Maybe I’m just growing out of that spot where the Anderson formula worked especially well on me. I mean, it still worked a bit, and I was still emotionally affected, but — you know.

Don’t know if they had advance warning, but the folks at the Onion kind of nailed this one:

Fans who attended a sneak preview Monday of critically acclaimed director Wes Anderson’s newest project, The Darjeeling Limited, were surprised to learn that the film features a deadpan comedic tone, highly stylized production design, and a plot centering around unresolved family issues.

“What will he think of next?” audience member Michael Cauley said. “And who could have foreseen the elaborately crafted ’60s-era aesthetic, melancholy subtext, and quirky nomenclature—to say nothing of the unexpected curveball of casting Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray?”

In a recent review, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott also expressed surprise at the film’s cutting-edge soundtrack, which features a Rolling Stones song and three different tracks by the Kinks.

Here’s one of those Kinks tracks.

The Kinks - Powerman (buy)

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About that Ladybug Transistor show — they kind of sounded like a lounge band with mid-90s indie swagger. They ended up losing out in the equation of listening to more of their songs v. getting a decent night’s sleep.

But the opener, Still Flyin’, they were damn impressive and fun and exciting and new (to me).

In my back of the envelope calculus, they performed like a hybrid of Dark Meat and the Happy Mondays nursing a major reggae hard-on. Not that I’ve ever seen either of those bands live or feel that I’m accurately describing what they sounded like. The singer reminded me of a secular Daniel Smith. Take a lookee here at what the man, Sean Rawls, looks like:

Rawls was formerly in Masters of the Hemisphere and Je Suis France, which means that this Lumberjack knows how to spend his next E*Music binge.

His most recent band is considered an indie supergroup of sorts — or so I’ve read on the internet — featuring members of Track Star, Aislers Set, Ladybug Transistor, Love Is All, Maserati, and Red Pony Clock at various different times.

Their recorded sound, while still good, truly does not do the live show justice, which got this man’s flannel flyin’. But, it’s still definitely worth checking out.

Still Flyin’ - Mystery Tent (buy)

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