Here are some records we have been listening to lately at WSJR HQ, with a couple MP3s just for you:

Brightblack Morning Light s/t (this is a fantastic record that is pretty perfect in almost any setting. I'm sure that some people will find it boring, but I think it recalls Spacemen 3, Primal Scream, and elements of jazz and soul. What the fuck is boring about that?) "Friend of Time" MP3

Johann Johannsson Dis (Christ this is a really beautiful album. Check out the way this track goes from soft bedroom pop fragile to bold psyche rockin and back again in a completely seamless sequence.) "Efripides Og Nearipidel" MP3

Sly and the Family Stone Theres a Riot Going on (Listen to this record if you want to find out how dark a summer can be. And also where Ariel Pink came from.)

My Bloody Valentine Glider EP, Tremolo EP, You Made Me Realise EP (A lot of the stuff on these EPs doesn't sound much like Loveless, but sometimes thats a good thing considering what a powerful yet draining experience listening to Loveless can be. These also reveal another side of the band that is compelling in its own right.) "Slow" MP3
Feathers s/t

Thom Yorke The Eraser

Six Organs of Admittance The Sun Awakens ( yet another strong effort) "Bless Your Blood" MP3

Excepter KA

Joy Division Closer (Oh, have you guys ever heard of this band before? Seriously, its honestly been a couple years since I sat down and listened to Joy Division, but I started listening to Closer again a couple weeks ago and it now blows me away even more than it used to. I don't know how its possible, but it does, especially opener "Atrocity Exhibition.")

Defensive Listening's List:

Wuhling Extra Six
Orange Juice The Glasgow School
Finally Punk "Missile" (from their Myspace page)
Loincloth "Church Burntings" (from Southern Lord seven inch)
Delta 5 Singles and Sessions
Nikki Sudden/ Jacobites The Ragged School
Massacre Killing Time
Ancient Chinese Secret Caveat Emptor

(we were gonna post more MP3s, but file sharing is being a bitch today. If bands, labels or management want any of these songs removed, please email weshotjr@yahoo.com and we will take them down immediately. )

We figured we'd try to alert everyone about the OTHER concert going on Saturday night. Yes, we'll be at Sonic Youth for a good portion of the evening, but some of us are going to make it over to Darkside later in the evening after what we are guessing will be an early end time to the show @ Gypsy. We think all of you people should probably stop by Darkside too (especially those that can't afford Sonic Youth), and there are several reasons for this:

1. Because we said so
2. Because it will be a good show
3. Because its $5 and Sonic Youth is $30
4. Because its at Darkside Lounge, which seems to be the only place in Deep Ellum that might possibly become a refuge for good booking in the neighborhood.

And it seems that the other, um, publications around town missed the boat on what should be the best local show of the weekend, meaning that going to this show would be a good chance to show everyone how far ahead you are. The line up:

The Falkon (the Falkon's original line up, back together to play just a couple shows. People will surely blah blah blah about Wanz on the comment threads, but I think you'll have a hard time talking shit about "Death to Sally" on their Myspace page. Go see what I mean.)
The Great Tyrant ( I think fans of Sunn0))), Cabaret Voltaire, and Silver Apples will really dig these guys. Not that they sound much like any of those bands, but they seem to have the same, you know, thing going on.)
Silk Stocking
Notes from Underground
Low Line Caller (from Austin- shoegaze influenced instrumental pop that could either be one of the great live experiences of the summer or a disaster, depending on whether these guys are capable of pulling their sound off live)
Various members of the Laptop Deathmatch squad

Shit. I don't know what Beck was like at Snorekia last night (I heard it was good and that there were performances conducted by dolls), and I haven't heard much about The Walkmen show, but neither of them could have been BETTER than Man Man last night, because they were completely lights out at the Cavern. Although I wish it would have been just a bit louder (a common complaint at the ol' Cavern), the stage presence of each and every face-painted member of Man Man, along with their complex pounding rhythms and vocals that somehow sounded as good live as they do on the record, made it one of the better shows I have seen this year (still can't touch Ariel Pink, The Books, or Liars). The house was mostly packed (unfortunately with a whole lotta men, man), but the crowd's energy was pretty high level for a Dallas show (usually takes an out-of-towner to inspire that), and Man Man didn't miss a beat all night. It was one of those sweaty, high energy, bratty and infectious live shows where the band LOOKED completely chaotic but somehow managed to play really tight all night long (Undoing of David Wright is pretty good at pulling that trick off too). I hope Sonic Youth is HALF that fun on Saturday.

Of course, as is often the story in Dallas, one night of high profile shows is followed by a night of relatively few noteworthy shows:

1. DJ G 80's Night (Hailey's)
Every time I see this guy spin, I hear at least 10 tracks I know and love, and at least 10 that I've never heard but make me say "does anyone know who this is?" Most people that read this blog have probably checked him out at some point, but if you haven't, you should head to Denton to see what you're missing. You'll hear a lot of rare 80's electro, great mid to late 80's Chicago house, some Italo, etc.

2. Zoo (Cavern Upstairs)
A night of mostly great music along with hard to find music videos and other interesting visuals. You'll go for the sounds but stay for the sights, because the videos are as carefully selected as the music here. You should try it, because everyone needs somewhere to go on Thursday nights once they have realized that hipster karaoke is the beginning of the end for you and your friends.

3. Strange Boys | Tah Dahs | Sparklepussy Barbie (Gypsy Tea Room)
Strange Boys and Tah Dahs are good bands that you should go see tonight if you haven't seen them 5,000 times. But I have, and I'm taking a break for a while. And I can't believe I typed "Sparklepussy Barbie." I'm never doing that again unless its in a "Warning: members of the Deathray Davies" kind of way.

Also, I forgot:

Your Heart Breaks | Karl Blau (Rubber Gloves)
Some of that old school, lo-fi indie pop stuff that might remind you that you still kind of like pop music. Is K Records retro cool now?

Looks like we've got some new readers this week, so this is for all who don't know: Radio UTD is the University of Texas at Dallas' online radio station. They feature live programming from Monday- Friday from noon to 10pm, and it is now the ONLY place in the Metroplex (other than Meat Radio at times) to hear some music thats actually good and, you know, relevant. Its just too band that you can't, you know, listen to it in your car. Here is their play chart from last week:

1 MISSION OF BURMA The Obliterati
2 MOJAVE 3 Puzzles Like You
3 BLACK HEART PROCESSION The Spell
4 OAKLEY HALL Gypsum Strings
5 DANIELSON Ships
6 LANSING-DREIDEN The Dividing Island
7 MINMAE Le Grand Essor De La Maison Du Monstre
8 WALKMEN A Hundred Miles Off
9 WILDERNESS Vessel States
10 SHEARWATER Palo Santo
11 CAMERA OBSCURA Let's Get Out Of This Country
12 SNOWGLOBE Oxytocin
13 OPPENHEIMER Oppenheimer
14 THEATER FIRE Everybody Has A Dark Side
15 SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped
16 JOLIE HOLLAND Springtime Can Kill You
17 PHOENIX It's Never Been Like That
18 JUANA MOLINA Son
19 LEGENDARY PINK DOTS Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves
20 SERENA-MANEESH Serena-Maneesh
21 SPACE NEEDLE Headquarters Recordings 1994-1997
22 HELVETIA The Clever North Wind
23 MICAH P. HINSON The Baby And The Satellite [EP]
24 MATMOS The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast
25 BEN VAUGHN Designs In Music
26 BEDROOM WALLS All Good Dreamers Pass This Way
27 CARLA BOZULICH Evangalista
28 HIGGINS Dear Higgins
29 COUCH Figur 5
30 HOT CHIP The Warning

Adds:

# ARTIST Recording
1 WIRE Pink Flag
2 LADY AND BIRD Lady And Bird
3 TOMIHIRA Play Dead
4 HYLOZOISTS La Fin Du Monde
5 AWESOME COLOR Awesome Color

And I'm tellin' you people, the new Lansing-Dreiden and Wilderness records are pretty fucking great. If you haven't heard them, then get with it you loser.

1. Man Man | Lovely Feathers (The Cavern- $8)
We're idiots. We pretty much had a phone interview with Man Man set up for yesterday afternoon, but Mavs games and blog designs and work and life and crap got in the way of what we were hoping would be a completely chaotic phone interview with a really great band. Yes, we're big Man Man fans, and their show at the Cavern tonight should be a real treat, considering the size of the venue and the potential for destruction that the band seems to possess. If you've read anything about them, you've heard all the proper comparisons: namely, to Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart. And while these comparisons are valid, the band also seems to bring their own elements of theatrical, post-punk silliness to the table that truly add to the whole thing. Their songs are sort of eastern folk influenced, a bit trashy ragtime, highly percussive, and addictive. Montreal's The Lovely Feathers also kick much ass, in case you didn't know, even if they do pretty much sound like a Montreal band (that also reminds me of the Dead Milkmen for some odd reason). I guarantee that they will be an opening band worth seeing. Shouldn't miss this one.

2. The Walkmen | Richard Swift | Talk Demonic (Granada $12)
The new Walkmen record: I guess its pretty good, although its certainly not blowing me away after my initial excitement about it. And I've never seen the Walkmen live, but I've heard that they can be assholes on stage, which is fun. Their first record was especially fantastic in my mind, the second was very good, and the third is pretty good. I'm intrigued to see them live, and I might just do so in order to catch their wall of haze in person. Richard Swift writes some really great offbeat piano/guitar pop songs. Nothing fancy, but quite good (he's also playing a Good Records in store at 4pm today). Talk Demonic should also be worth seeing.

And something about the prospect of paying $40 to see Beck and Jamie Lidell at Nokia makes me yawn and say "who gives a fuck?"

We'd like to give a special thanks to Garrison Reid of Indieinterviews.com for helping us make this blog look quite a bit better. Actually, he pretty much did everything for us, and should be commended for putting up with our web design incompetence alone. He also had to deal with sending 8,000 emails back and forth in order to get this done, which was probably beyond annoying. Thanks Garrison. Check out his site to hear some quality interviews with several of the national indie darlings of the moment.

Also, the new logo was designed by a member of the WSJR crew, demonstrating that we are good at something other than being really cool and writing amazing blog posts. Cheers.

There are a lot of reasons that I don't want to write this review right now, including the fact that I am depressed over a heartbreaking, season ending Mavericks loss. But I suppose that this might actually be the best time to do it, since being depressed and heartbroken seems to compliment the sad and dreamy songs on Current Leaves' impressive debut quite well. And although my depression might be useful for writing this piece (see, I wrote a whole paragraph about it), I didn't need the Mavericks to lose in order to appreciate just how good this record is.

In an attempt to find a "theme" or something to tie this review together (other than the game), I decided to try to read as much as I could about Current Leaves, including Noah Bailey's review of Pastense for the Observer. In it, he makes several references to Gram Parsons' apparent influence on Current Leaves' sound, which was initially annoying because I had planned to write about the same thing. For some reason, the name Gram Parsons came to mind upon first hearing this record, and I figured it might be a pertinent comparison to make, even though I didn't think much about why. Luckily however, a few subsequent listens revealed that Pastense doesn't actually sound a whole hell of a lot like Parsons (at least his solo work) at all, and frankly I'm happy about that, because there are enough Parsons imitators in Texas to keep us all happy.

Current Leaves' music is certainly country influenced, but they aren't really a "country band" by any measure beyond their basic set of underlying influences. Sure, there is a good deal of lonesome highway heartache and even a few slide guitars present throughout many of their songs, but this aspect of their sound doesn't ever seem to take center stage or get in the way, as it often does with "alt country" groups that utilize their influences in an overly academic or tongue in cheek manner. Instead, Current Leaves' shimmering, 60's psyche influenced guitars (yeah yeah, I know, the Byrds) and Aaron White's confident yet fragile vocals immediately stand out and steal the show, pushing most comparisons and spot the influence games out the window. Yes, the twang is there, and those that like such things will truly enjoy the restrained and simple way in which Current Leaves present it. Those that don't really care for country, however, will likely not think too much about it once they dig into these songs a couple times, considering that they are primarily psychedelic pop tunes that merely nod in country music's general direction with a self awareness that lends them emotional depth instead of taking it away.

The album begins with two of its three strongest songs, as opener "13 Hours" sets the tone with lush, airy and bright guitar parts that float in a sea of reverb but stay bold enough carry the rhythm, while "Easy to Leave" establishes the band's ability to write instantly accessible and memorable pop songs without compromising one bit of the emotion that is found in some of their slower, less straight forward numbers. Really, "Easy to Leave" is pretty much an instant classic, with its chorus of "Its easy to leave/ but its hell to stay gone" assuring its presence in your head for days. It is the most straight forward country track on the album, but it is also the most effective because it touches on Americana without surrendering to its constraints.

Elsewhere, "Fought A Bear" recalls Pavement's "Father to a Sister of a Thought" with haunting echo slide guitars and thoughtful but controlled vocals, which reminds me: as a vocalist and lyricist, Aaron White is quite compelling if not exactly groundbreaking, with a range and tone that falls somewhere between Stephen Malkmus and Stephen Merrit, and a streak of lovesickness, regret and introspection that certainly leans more towards the latter. All of the qualities that make Current Leaves (and White) effective seem to come together almost perfectly in "Kill All Your Babies," which starts off as a dark, minimal and hollow sounding ballad but builds ever so subtly into a subdued but inspiring fortress of sad reverb and religious lyrics that instantly strikes a bittersweet chord as the album's emotional and musical center. Like many of the songs on Pastense, it is easy to listen to but never becomes boring because it isn't straight forward enough to immediately run its course.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this record is that just about anyone can enjoy it, and since Current Leaves are starting to get a little more press these days, just about anyone might actually find this out for themselves. It is a great reminder that there are in fact local bands out there that are capable of making records that are enjoyable because they are accessible, but also because they are well crafted, exciting, and artistically sound. Country, psyche, sadness, memorable lyrics, Byrds comparisons, and music that is compelling without being all that innovative. Shit, I guess it kind of does sound like Gram Parsons. And I guess I kind of sound like Noah Bailey.

"Easy to Leave" MP3

(FYI, our rating system is based on a total of five possible stars)

But I guess you can if you want to

After what will hopefully be a night that consists of a Mavs win and me winning free tickets to game 7 (which better happen), it might be a good idea to head over to the Cavern, either upstairs, downstairs, or both for a night cap or six.

UPSTAIRS:

The Lost Generation w/ Wanz: Always a great place to hear music that won't be played in any other bar on any other night in the metroplex, tonight's Lost Generation will feature:

" good stuff. You should come listen. No music until after the mavs game. so feel free to come early and watch the game with us. I scored a bunch of rare diplo shit and shitload of Kompakt records stuff recently. I also got a new nouvelle vogue disc with some really good cuts. We will get back to theme nights next week. I have been putting off my "all things german must be good" night. Maybe next week.If the mavs win we are gonna throw down. If they lose ..........Nick cave b-sides and rarities may be more appropriate. They better not lose. What I play tonight really depends on the crowd. If the crowd is good we will jam if it is lame like the other nights when the Mavs lost then who knows."


DOWNSTAIRS:

Sybris | Backsliders | Blonde Girls: Hmm... Sybris. I wasn't expecting much when I heard this band for the first time. I don't know why, but I think I was expecting O.C. style indie girlpop or something. And thats kind of what it is. But before you puke, you should go check out some songs on their Myspace page. If you do, there will be a certain point in time (probably within a couple minutes) that you realize that there is one indie girlpop band that you actually like, and you won't even be sure if thats what they are at all. Singer Angela Mullenhour seems to be quite the front woman, combining some of the best aspects of Bjork's range and Hope Sandoval haunt in front of a shimmering wall of noise that often appears to be bordering on out of control but never falls outside the lines of its pop oriented structure. In short, its good stuff. The DNA/ Black Eyes influenced Blonde Girls might be a pretty decent reason to show up early as well.

Gorilla vs. Bear's Chris Cantalini seems to be a pretty busy guy these days. Not only does he run one of the most highly acclaimed "tastemaker" MP3 blogs in the U.S. right now, but he recently began hosting his own SIRIUS radio show with fellow bloggers Brooklyn Vegan and Productshop NYC. He also lives here in Dallas in case you didn't know, which probably makes him, in terms of impact and influence on underground music, one of the most important figures to come out of the Dallas music scene in a very long time (although he obviously hasn't had much competition over the past decade).

We're pretty sure that you've had your fill of think pieces on the power of MP3 blogs in the music business these days, so we'll spare you. However, we thought it might be interesting to get some thoughts on the matter from one of the bigger players in the game, someone that actually sees what these blogs are and are not capable of on a daily basis. We give you 7 1/2 questions with Chris Cantalini:

I bet you probably weren't expecting this, but we wanted to ask you some questions about music blogs and their influence. Shocked? It seems that before the "blogging" age, whatever that means, the tastemakers of the underground or "indie" music industry were a small group of writers at influential publications, college radio DJs at big college stations, certain record stores, and New York trust fund kids with art degrees. Now it seems that a small group of bloggers have joined that elite group, or maybe even replaced it a bit. Do you think that blogs really have changed that much in the business? Why or why not?

I think it's still a little early to say how they've changed the business, if at all. I think one function the blogs serve is that of a filter for more traditional media. I mean, you're seeing these virtually unknown bands like Beirut, Tapes 'n Tapes, etc. showing up in the New York Times, and they never fail to mention the "blog-hype", so I guess there is some impact, I just wouldn't know how to measure it. Plus, I'm more of a fan than anything else, and my site wasn't originally designed to be some tastemaking force, so I don't really care if I change the business or not.

When did you start your blog? Why did you start it? How long did it take to build up an audience? How large is your audience today?

I started it back in March of '05 out of sheer boredom. I hated my job, so it gave me something to do at work. It took probably 6-8 months before people started paying any attention, and now I get somewhere between 5 and 6 thousand unique visitors a day, which is crazy to me.

How do you go about finding some of the bands that a lot of people are unfamiliar with? Do you seek things out, do people send you stuff, etc?

I spend a good part of my work day listening to submissions and checking out band websites, and I also read a lot of blogs. I'm pretty much tied to a computer all day for work, so it gives me something to do. Out of the stuff that makes it onto the blog, I'd say maybe 20% is sent to me, and the rest I seek out on my own.

What does it feel like to now have the ability to help launch the careers of musicians that you like?

That's such a new phenomenon with me, I haven't really decided how I feel about it yet. I mean, it's fulfilling to see bands I love getting more attention based on something I wrote, but at the same time, it makes me a slightly uncomfortable to be "attached" to these bands' success. It makes me cringe when i see terms like "blogger darlings", because that is so condescending in a way, and it just means that the backlash is inevitable. You're already seeing backlash, people saying certain bands don't live up to the blogger-hype, which is just ridiculous. Blogs are a such a personal medium. People talk about shit that resonates with them. No matter what I say I like, I'm going to get like half the people saying I'm overhyping it.

Do you have relationships with label and PR people? If so, what is the general nature of these relationships? Do these people often offer you favors in exchange for favors?

For the most part, I tend to ignore most label and PR people, just because I don't have time to wade through all the shit they send me. I pay more attention to submissions coming from the artists themselves. But yeah, I do have some relationships with a couple labels and PR people that I like and trust, and who try to send me stuff that they feel will align with my tastes. They'll send me "exclusives" or ask me to run contests, but that stuff generally tends to be crap, so I never end up using most of it.

What is the single greatest thing that has happened to you as a result of Gorilla vs Bear?

I'd have to say getting my own show on SIRIUS satellite radio, which people probably view as far more legit than just running a blog. At least to my family and friends, the fact that I've joined the ranks of Howard Stern, Mark Cuban, and Richard Simmons as SIRIUS radio personalities sort of validates what I'm doing to a small extent.

How is the satellite radio thing going? What do you hope to accomplish with your show? How did you land the gig?

The show was just sort of handed to me by one of the format managers over there. I guess he was a fan of my blog, and blogs in general, so he hooked me up, along with Brooklyn Vegan and Productshop NYC.It's been a lot of fun so far. I still sound sort of clueless on air, but I've had some bands help me out as guest DJs, which has been cool. Tapes 'n Tapes co-hosted the last show, and I got Mike Skinner of the Streets to do a couple drops for this week's show. And I'm going to hopefully be doing a couple things with some local-ish bands in the near future, like Midlake and Sound Team. I have no idea what I hope to accomplish, I haven't really thought about that yet. I guess it's basically just a real-life extension of the blog.

If musicians get laid for being musicians because musicians are cool, and bloggers play a role in deciding WHICH musicians are cool, will bloggers ever be.... we already are, dude. No seriously, I know what you're getting at, and no, I've never had sex with any of the guys in Birdmonster.

As many of you know, the Strategies of Beauty Festival Vol. 1 will be going down on Saturday July 1st at Rubber Gloves, starting at 4pm ($5). Although some people seem to think that we coined the phrase "new weird Denton" to describe a noise/experimental folk "scene" that many of these bands may or may not be a part of, we actually didn't come up with it at all. Some guy (or girl) in one of the comment threads did, and I think it was a joke. But what the hell do I know?

We're not sure if there is actually one of these "scene" things in Denton, and we're also not sure if any of these bands would consider themselves a part of one if there was, but we do think that many of the bands playing this festival are part of a short list of musicians that are doing creative, exciting, and forward thinking things in the metroplex right now. Are we saying that all of them are the second coming or something? No. But we are saying that this festival will provide a good opportunity to check out a group of bands that not only sound pretty different from everything else going on in DFWd, but could also end up having a sizeable impact in the area in the not too distant future. And did we mention that a lot of them happen to be a lot of fun to listen to?

The whole thing costs five bucks, and a part of the proceeds will go to the People's Clinic of Denton County (click,) which helps provide health care to poor and uninsured residents of Denton County. There aren't too many bad things you can say about that. The festival might also be a good opportunity for likeminded fans and musicians to get together and drink, exchange ideas, meet new friends, start new musical projects, drink, etc. In short, it could be a pretty damn good way to spend a Saturday afternoon/evening. We think you should give it a try.

The following is a list of the bands playing the festival. We'll be doing profiles on some of our favorites over the next week and a half for your enjoyment:

Ribelle Scaltro (Denton)
Eat Avery's Bones (DFW)
iDi* amin (Denton)
Chris Garver (Denton)
Cue (Austin)
You Are the Universe (Denton)
Hotel Hotel (Austin)
Samantha L. Moss (Jetscreamer) and Emil Rapstine (The Angelus) (Denton)
Shiny Around the Edges (Denton)
Stumptone (Ft. Worth)
Fra Pandolf (Denton)
Notes From Underground (Denton)

Nothing going down in the magical land of music today. However, I would suggest using this non music non Mavs day to check out Matthew Barney's new movie staring some person called Bjork. Its playing at the Magnolia at 7 and 10 pm. Heres the preview, and here is the New York Times review (and I forgot, here is a negative review from the Village Voice, just to be Fair and Balanced:

1. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
2. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
3. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
4. Danielson - Ships
5. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
6. Hot Chip - The Warning
7. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
8. Daedelus - Denied the Days Demise
9. The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
10. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
11. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
12. Futureheads - News and Tributes
13. Juana Molina - Son
14. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
15. Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels
16. Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You
17. Neil Young - Living With War
18. Small Sins - Small Sins
19. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
20. Neil Young - Heart of Gold [DVD]

Raconteurs? I can't stand it. I suppose I was once a pretty big White Stripes fan (White Blood Cells really blew me away when it came out, as well as their first two records), but I'm just pretty goddamn sick of that guy. I don't know why, other than the fact that I don't think he's released a decent song in the past three or four years.

And I gotta say: that new Sonic Youth album is pretty damn good, isn't it? Fairly short, more straight forward songs (for Sonic Youth at least), but I think they've made all the "noise" that any group of four people possibly ever could, and I'm enjoying the more mellow approach they seem to have taken for the past couple records.

I usually don't do Mavs post after a loss, but Jesus Christ. I absolutely cannot believe what went down tonight, especially in overtime. I'm not a conspiracy theory person, and no, I don't think that the NBA orders refs to extend a series by giving one team all the calls, but the league likes to protect their starts, and it sure seemed that they were going out of their way to protect Wade tonight. In the second half, he took more foul shots than the ENTIRE MAVS TEAM. And that last foul at the end of overtime? Well first of all, it wasn't a foul in any way, shape or form, and it shouldn't have been called at any point in a game (watch the replay if you don't believe me). But refs NEVER call fouls like that at the end of the game unless it is so obvious that they can't get away with not calling it. Way to go guys. Deciding a Finals game on free throws. I don't know what else to say.

And lets not forget what Josh Howard did. Not that the Mavs were likely to make a last second shot like that anyway, but come on. I knew they only had one time out left. Why didn't he? There is a debate about whether he actually called a time out or not, but it sure looked like he did in the replay, and the look on his face afterward kind of said it all. I just can't believe he did that, and there is NO excuse for it, despite his solid performance otherwise.

Earlier today, I said that this game was a must win for the Heat. And it was. But they won it, and because of the way it went down, I'm not sure that the Mavs can recover. I really hope they do, but I'm not feeling very good about it. This could be our one and only chance to see the Mavs get this close, and it feels like its slipping away.

I suppose I don't need to tell anyone that the Mavs game is on @ 8 tonight (although I guess I just did). The word is that Avery moved the team out of their plush hotel near South Beach and shipped em 45 minutes away to some suburban chain hotel. He's also not allowing them to hang out with friends and family as much. Good move. It seems that the Mavs went down there ready to relax and wrap the whole thing up, but now they know, as well as we do, that there is still a lot of work left to be done. I would stop short of calling this game a "must win," because no matter what, we'll have the two games back in Dallas if we need them. In fact, even though everything seems to be going Miami's way, I would say that this is a must win for THEM, because I don't see them (or anyone else) winning two in a row in Dallas.

Stack's absence is probably going to hurt, but it might also inspire the rest of the guys to get pissed, step up and have big games, even if they failed to do so in the San Antonio series when Terry was suspended. Although we all want Stack in the game, I don't think his absence will hurt as much as Terry's did, and I still feel like we have a good shot at winning this game. Lets hope so. And where the hell has Devin Harris disappeared to by the way?

Broadcast Sea | Exit the King | The Great Tyrant | Man is Mostly Water (Rubber Gloves)
Stoner rock, black metal, ambient noise, prog metal... it seems that there has been a resurgence of interest in these sounds recently, and I guess this is the show where some of the local incarnations of this sound are being showcased. Although we're not totally crazy about Broadcast Sea as of yet, we think they, along with Exit the King and the wonderful Great Tyrant, are certainly worth checking out even if the aforementioned genres aren't really your thing. Great Tyrant is certainly one of the most adventurous bands in the area right now, and should be experienced at least once.