The Pizazz is one of those bands I rarely make it out to see. It seems like they only play when I work late or am out of town or have a giant zit on my forehead and just decide to stay home alone and listen to my Smiths records instead. But every time I see them, I wonder why more people aren’t talking about them or why they aren’t on more bills. I dunno. I don’t really know much about these guys other than I really like their songs, which I guess is all that matters.

I also know they have a new album out, Get Out of My House, (produced by Bobby Harlow) that I’ve had on repeat since last night. According to my own personal musical tastes, it’s really fucking good. So good. There are eight tracks on their MySpace Page that I suggest you check out and a couple more below.

The Pizazz - Crafty Maneuvers

The Pizazz - Dudley Moore

The Pizazz are playing this friday at the Majestic Cafe, with The Fondas and The Vezinas (Vezina?). They’ll at least have cassette versions of the new album for sale and I hear maaaaaaybe the vinyl LPs will be done in time.

I’m totally fine with the Dressing Like The Homeless hipster craze. In fact, I love it — it makes going out that much better if I know The Woodbridge Circus will be entertaining me between sets. That’s not anti-hipster sarcasm, either. I sincerely love you guys for making people watching as entertaining as it is at the Gibralter Trade Center in Taylor. I just wish you’d shower more than once a week. Walking up the stairs to the Magic Stick last night, I had that “Oh Gross. Whose fart am I walking through?” moment. Then I got upstairs and realized the entire Stick smelled like open ass.

I’d like to take this opportunity to ask the Majestic if I can be in charge of propping open the doors to the Alley Deck. I’m sure there are currently bartenders in charge of this, but I sort of don’t have faith in any of them since I suspect they may be a few showers short of a full deck as well. If door privileges are out of the question, can someone at least hang a few thousand pine tree air fresheners on the ceiling? You know that scene in Seven where they find that guy who’s been rotting in a room for months? Make it look like that.

Regardless, the Black Lips last night were fucking great. So were Box Elders. Tyvek went on way too early, but I assume they did some cool things too. There are a bunch of pictures here that you’re gonna love. Here is one of them. Can you smell that?

I know Beach House is playing the Pike Room on Thursday and I imagine it will be packed because “Teen Dream” is one of the best albums of the year but for those of you who aren’t into that, or who have zero dollars, there’s this one thing that I think is pretty cool.

That “split cassette” is limited to 50 copies and features Kommie Kilpatrick performing five Champions of Breakfast songs and Champions of Breakfast performing five Kommie Kilpatrick songs. If you know what both of these bands sound like, you might find this odd…which is why I find it interesting. And just in case you think this is some sort of April Fool’s joke:

Kommie Kilpatrick - Unicorn Bible

Kommie Kilpatrick - Wet Kiss

Champions of Breakfast - Give Me Everything

Champions of Breakfast - Sick of the City

Also on the bill is The Kickstand Band, which features Gordon, who used to be one of Mick Bassett’s Marthas but is now in The Sights, and Allison, who, I think, is still a Martha and may or may not also be in The Hounds Below sometimes, and the drummer who used to be in The Dollfaces, whose name may or may not be Anthony, and by now you should have noticed I’m attempting to build the longest sentence, with the most overusage of commas, the internet has ever seen.

Oh and Beach House just sold out the Pike Room, so the show is now in the Crofoot Ballroom…in case you were wondering.

Alright so there’s this band from Vancouver called You Say Party! We Say Die! and they tour all kinds of exotic lands such as London and Stockholm and Dublin and Vienna and Pontiac. Wait. Oh shit.

You Say Party! We Say Die! is playing the Pike Room tomorrow with Lettercamp, the band who won our totally fair and unbiased Blowout Champion of Friday Night poll. There are a couple of other shows going on too, but Spoon is boring live and $30 is way too expensive to see Deerhunter in a dudebro atmosphere, so the Royal Oak Music Theater is out. I don’t really have a complaint about the show at The Stick other than you’ve probably seen The Black Lips live a dozen times by now, so why not drive four hours to a dance party in Pontiac instead? Agreed? Great. Have we got a deal for you…

All you have to do is leave a comment along the lines of “You Say Party! We Say Die!,” but with some different words filled in. For example, You Say Metro Times! We Say Pissed! Easy, right? Or you could tell me what the beginning of the song in the video reminds me of. It’s some old school club shit like Taylor Dane or Mary J Blige or something they used to play at Skateland —  I can’t place it and it’s driving me nuts. Or you could just beg for the tickets. The winner gets two tickets to see You Say Party! We Say Die! and Lettercamp at the Pike Room on Tuesday night.

I’m still attempting to keep a list of all vinyl releases from local artists here because I am a big nerd (as always, please let me know if I’ve missed something). “How big of a nerd?,” you ask. Well, let me astound you. Something about the latest Dirtbombs 7″ on Cass Records reminded me of cutting coupons out of Harbinger #1-6 — destroying something rare in exchange for something (possibly) rarer. Harbinger #0, anyone? Didn’t think so.

…you’ll notice that the Dirtbombs 12″ single for “Race to the Bottom” is now sold out. First off, you are all suckers. I can’t believe you even bought it. But that’s not even the best part…

Cass Records is also proud to announce the upcoming release of a new Dirtbombs 7″. On it we cover two songs by Ray Columbus “Kick Me” and “The Crunch.” This single was initially slated to be our New Zealand tour single in 2008, but the lazy guy who set up the tour never got around to it. Ray Columbus is from New Zealand, by the way, and we even played a show with him on that tour.

The only way to obtain a copy of this record will be to mail us (Cass Records) a copy of the “Race to the Bottom” 12-inch that is completely destroyed. I’m talking AT LEAST cracked in half. Ground into a fine dust. Melted to look like a fried egg. Riddled with bullet holes. I don’t care what exactly you do or how you do it, but I want a pile of these records defiled beyond playability. Just scratching it a bit will not suffice. No, you need to unleash some aggression on this thing. Don’t be shy.

Once you’ve done the deed, please mail the remnants (we need to at LEAST see the label as verification that it is indeed “Race to the Bottom” you spent quality time with) to:

Ben Blackwell
623 7th Ave South
Nashville, TN 37203
USA

Please include a return address so you can receive the awesome, actual songs 7″ FOR FREE! You don’t even have to cover shipping! This is our idea of a gift to you!

We will only be pressing a limited number of these 7″s (probably 200) and we will not be selling them AT ALL. They will also not be available for trade a la Tin Knocker. No, the only way you will receive a copy of this super-limited Dirtbombs 7″ single is to destroy a soon-to-be-limited Dirtbombs 12″ single.

If you vaguely know me (Ben) or have been friendly or traded with Cass before and are wondering if you might be able to weasel one of these singles out of me all slick-style, think again Clyde. This shit is meant to be hard to get, meant to make you think, meant to force you to come to a decision. So bust out that radial arm saw and get working.

We can’t wait to see how this works out. We’ve been planning it for months.

Sincerely,
The Record Collector Sadists at Cass Records

Last time Mayer Hawthorne and the County played Detroit, they sold out the Magic Stick and I’ve heard nothing but great things about his live show since then. Unfortunately I was not able to attend that night due to a holiday house party followed by a trip to, uh…Club Gold Coast. Don’t ask.

I have the feeling this dude is going to keep upgrading his venue sizes and I’d like to see his show before it gets to The Fillmore. So I’m going to check out this St. Andrews gig on Friday. Want to join me? Not, like, go with me — I mean just also be at the show. Awesome. All you have to do is leave a comment (fill in the e-mail field) and tell me why you want to go or post a funny picture or tell me a story about the one time you went to Club Gold Coast. I don’t care. Just do something. The winner gets a pair of guest list spots for Friday’s Mayer Hawthorne and the County (with Nikki Jean) show at St. Andrews.

And remember kids, St. Andrews shows usually let out early enough that you can go do more things afterward. Like set fires.

UPDATE: I was just informed the Chris Bown who worked on this video is not actually the Chris Brown who punched that alien chick and is very sensitive to those types of immature jokes. Just wanted to clear up any confusion, if there ever was any to begin with.

Remember when I told you to go to The Atlas and be in the new Beggars video? Well, if you went to that Beggars video event and were in the Beggars video then you are in this Beggars video made by Brandon White and Chris Brown (the Rihanna puncher?). Rad!

A friend of mine (one of three, thank you very much) just forwarded this story to me. The title reads, “The New Pornographers Drop Single, Announce Huge North American Tour” — of course Huge North American Tour does not include Michigan, but no one would have it expected it to. What’s interesting in this article is the following:

If you pre-order the album from the Matador store, you get a free 7″ featuring the New Pornographers covering three songs by Detroit psych band Outrageous Cherry.

What What What? Ho-Lee Shit. I reckon there are a few readers right now getting their first non-Viagra induced erection in decades. Outrageous Cherry! Isn’t this one of those bands from way back in the heyday of whenever the fuck it was that you went to shows? I always wondered why you old-timers kept popping in to scold the young-uns for not making rock’n'roll the way you used to make rock’n'roll, but today…right now…with this post…it all becomes clear. You waited and endured through indie pop and electro noise and finally, FINALLY all that persistence has payed off.

Yours is the Greatest Generation! You have taught us all valuable lessons. Patience is a virtue! Keep hope alive! Who knows what the future could bring? Today, a current indie band covers Outrageous Cherry. Tomorrow someone could re-open a Bill Knapps!

I just noticed that there are no less than 8 shows on Saturday that are pretty decent. Praise be to Allah that we live in a market that can sustain that, with our thousands and thousands of live music supporters.

I hope there is a Matlock marathon that night.

Good effort. I like bands who are smart enough to realize playing in Michigan isn’t going to fucking get you anywhere. How many MI bands went down to SXSW this year? The Hounds Below, Salem, Terrible Twos, Lord Scrummage, a bunch of hip-hop stuff I’m not familiar with…anyone else? A hell of a lot less than in previous years. I blame The Loving Touch, The Metro Times and Jack White.

Lord Scrummage @ SXSW 2010 from OohSparkles on Vimeo.