LA Weekly

Once upon a time, Elliott Smith and Aimee Mann were nominated for Oscars, and despite the KCRW-ness of it all, it still felt good to watch them up there against the Celines and the Disney movie stuff.

Of course, it was always Celine Dion or Phil Collins or whomever that walked away with the award, but just having them up there felt like a little progress had been made towards bringing the Best Song category of the Oscars up to... oh, maybe 1962. To hope for something closer to the year 2000, well, probably not. Disney's still gonna make movies, Celine's still going to make soundtracks, and the awards will still go to them.

But then...

And then....

And now, the next morning, there's stuff all over the place about Marketa coming back to get to say her thanks.

It felt sweet, and honest and genuine. I'm sure the three songs nominated from Disney's Enchanted are wonderful in their own way, but for once, it was nice to see the juggernaut get passed over.

Click here to read Ryan Ward's review of the Swell Season performing in L.A. from August.

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Watch as Ghostface comes face to face with the new math reality of the downward death spiral that we call the recorded music industry. You got to love his honesty here. Ghostface's new album has gotten great notices, many saying it's better than the Wu-Tang Clan album.

But the soundscan numbers? Not quite up to Killah's expectations. 115,000 MySpace Friends does not equal anywhere near 100,000 in sales.

I think my favorite part is Ghostface's offer to anyone who has a real copy of his CD to come down to the show and you can have a one on one meeting with him. "I'll kick it with y'all, we can get Goose'd out, whatever you want to do man."

"I'm asking y'all to go the store and buy that man."

And hey - if Ghostface had 115k Myspace friends when he posted this, he now has almost 120k, which is nice, but friends don't buy you fish, you know what I mean?

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Questions to ponder:

Will they give Tenaglia his own stage to do a ten hour set, and if that's the case why didn't they book Villalobos?

How the hell did Linton Kwesi Johnson get on the bill - and holy crap, Linton Kwesi Johnson's on the bill!

Will Modeselektor finally and once and for all kick Justice's ass? And Busy P's, too?

Isn't it a little early for a Fatboy Slim renaissance, or a few years too late to toss him on the bill and expect us to care?

Sasha & Digweed but no Carl Craig? Is it too late to swap out?

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The new video for "When Cold Air Goes to Sleep," from the Radar Brothers' upcoming Auditorium, does exactly what a clip should: sent me racing to the CD to see if the whole thing, which I've just listened to a few times so far, is as great as this song. The video's directed by Bradley Beesley. Take a moment and watch it.

The Radar Brothers kick off their January residency at the Echo this Monday, and cap the month with Auditorium's release on January 29.

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By Jeff Shaw, City Pages

Compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving hasn't inspired bards overmuch. There are no traditional hymns, no instantly identifiable music associated with the day save possibly various football broadcast bumpers.

Nevertheless, here and there we find certain songs that -- in lyric or in spirit -- fit the theme of the day. For the first installment of a new, recurring blog feature, we hunted down five such songs for your Thanksgiving listening pleasure.

We plan to do a similarly-themed post once a month or so, with songs about different themes and events during the year. Use the comments to talk about the songs, or to suggest your own potential additions to the list.

5. Adam Sandler -- The Thanksgiving Song
Before Adam Sandler's magnum opus about Hannukah, there was his fractured effort about Turkey Day. Performed on Saturday Night Live with a brief assist from Kevin Nealon, Sandler's silly song may be the first holiday hymn to mention both Mike Tyson and venereal disease -- though hopefully not the last. (Due to NBC's video fascism, you can't see the original version, but this live version has the same feel. Note to the Peacock: Information wants to be free, tough guy.)

4. William Burroughs -- A Thanksgiving Prayer
Feeling thankful? Got a warm sensation of fellowship with other human beings? Smiling after watching the Sandler video? William S. Burroughs can take care of that for you. Okay, it's a spoken-word piece and not a song. If Kurt Cobain had lived longer, I'm sure he'd have performed musical accompaniment to this the way he did Burroughs' "The Priest They Called Him." Sadly, Cobain killed himself, possibly after listening to this concentrated burst of depressing.

Read on...

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Ozark Jubilee was the first nationally syndicated country music show, running from 1953 to 1960 or 61. It was broadcast from Columbia, Missouri, and was hosted by Red Foley (whom you can see talking a bit strangely at the end of the clip). The song is L'il Liza Jane, played by Bill Wimberly's house band, with Thumbs Carlille and Curly Chalker.

There are quite a few clips on YouTube of the old Ozark Jubilee show. Click here for more.

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