Brad Barrish

Graham Coxon's new album is more of the same, and that's fine by me. His solo work just rocks. He has that power pop rock thing down to a science. The opening track of this mix is also the opening track on his new album. I never thought I would be putting a Forward Russia! track on a mix. I saw them at SXSW this year and thought they put on a real shit show. I wasn't going to even bother listening to the album because of the aftertaste, but here they are and I love it. I can't wait for the new one from The Long Winters. I wanted the new Guster album to be a little more sing-along than it is. I may just need to spend some more time with it. Grant-Lee Phillips' cover of R.E.M.'s So.Central Rain is gorgeous. Nothing else to say about that. Do you watch Entourage? You should. It's one of the best shows on the tele. I always check out the music from the show. The last episode featured "Hip-Hop" by Dead Prez, which has become somewhat of a theme song at the office. Another story. Another time. They have a new one dropping, so there's that. The new Hope of The States is awesome. I've been listening a lot. Is it just me or does the lead singer sound a little Greg Dulli? You'll be hearing The Automatic a lot this summer. I'm betting on it. Pavement covers rule, and thus Cassettes Won't Listen (a.k.a. Jason Drake) do too. If you don't own the new French Kicks album, you must must must. One of my favorites of the year.

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I've been trying out a couple of interesting new blogging sites in the past few weeks and now it's time to give Vox a go. I've been a TypePad customer since the beginning and was a beta tester for Movable Type back in the day. As time has gone on, I've wanted the ability to post quicker and quicker and cared less about messing around with the design and layout. I'm not a designer, but I know what I like, so I leave it up to the people who do it for a living (or at least hobbyists). I haven't really changed the layout of my TypePad site since I started and it's beginning to show a little age.

It will come as no surprise that "An Inconvenient Truth" gets five stars for accuracy from Scientists.

Network LIVE captured Vagrant Records/Startime International recording artists The Futureheads with French Kicks. The show was captured at the Henry Fonda Theatre here in LA and it was awesome. There was some concern about the room looking packed for French Kicks, but everyone moved toward the stage when the band started playing the first notes of “So Far We Are,” the first song on their forthcoming album “Two Thousand.” The cameras were rolling, the job was swinging and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

One of the things that always gets people is seeing how Network LIVE operates at a show. When I bring a label person, manager or artist to our often times makeshift production rooms, they just get it. It’s undeniably impressive. All I usually have to say is “this is how we do it.” Of course I explain what we’re doing, but it’s always kinda cool to let them soak it in and ask the questions. It’s a proud moment for all of Network LIVE and a really exciting part of what we do. No matter how many times I see the same thing (the big flat panel display with all the cameras up and the director calling the shots), it’s still exciting.

Shortly after French Kicks left the stage, we were dealing with the fact that The Futureheads’ LD wanted the stage lights lower, wanted the lights off the crowd and wanted our gobos off. We deal with this on almost every show. The nature of capturing (particularly in HD) for broadcast, is that there has to be a lot of lights. The bands generally don’t like this as they think it ruins the ambiance and are concerned about the fans not having a good time. I saw the crowd during French Kicks and they were having a great time! We smoothed things over, worked a little magic and the show went on (with gobos up). The Futureheads’ tour manager quit 20 minutes before the band went on, but that’s another story.

The Futureheads played an awesome set beginning with “Yes/No” from their new album “News and Tributes.” They played nearly all of their new album. Highlights included “Fallout” “A to B” and their latest single “Skip To The End,” which had the crowd clapping along. The greatest moment in the production was seeing the lead singer guiding the crowd in hand claps. The director was calling out each camera showing all of the fans smashed up against the barricade, a wide shot of the vast sea of fans with their arms in the air then back to the singer. It was a really cool moment.

I wandered down to the band area underneath the stage after the show. Everyone was celebrating an awesome show. I got a chance to talk to the bands, both of whom were extremely grateful that we captured them. Label and managers were also there thanking us. Another proud moment for Network LIVE. Thanks to everyone for making this another great SRO capture.

Partnership For A Drug-Free America thinks being straight edge is cool and will encourage teens not to get involved with drugs. Yeah right...

Someone has defaced Wolfmother's video for "White Unicorn." How dare they!

I saw Wolfmother on their last U.S. tour stop on Wednesday. It was the third time I've seen them and they were incredible. You could tell that they were really happy to be on stage, really stoned or all of the above. They put on an energetic set that had the crowd jumping around, crowd surfing and cheering louder than your usual LA concert-going crowd.

This is so dumb... Have you heard the new ringtone kids are using? Apparently adults aren't supposed to be able to hear it. I played it in the office and everyone started freaking out.

I'm definitely an admirer of Chris Anderson and I love finding out what people like Chris carry around in their gadget bag. I've been thinking of getting a Treo 700p recently. I've been hearing good things and I've never owned one. I also really want a Nintendo DS.

Well, maybe not all of them, but Pete just started to again.

Mine was 178. What's yours?