Fly Like an Eagle...

...into the past. My first visit to the Eagles Club in South Minneapolis happened last night in honor of my friend Jody's birthday. The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 34 has risen to local fame this past year, due largely in part to it being the new regular home of the Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs. ("What is an aerie?", you might ask. So glad you asked.) We quickly learned that this is still an active club. The main area was filled with folks my parents' age, two-stepping and twirling to The Alphalfa Males. The wood paneling behind the bar held glass dioramas containing huge stuffed bald eagles. Jody and her friends rented the lovely little hall in the back corner. Our first discovery was the huge calendar sale hidden in the corner. 11-month calendars for only $1! December is too busy anyway. Who needs it? The selection's standout? Ferret Frenzy 2007, with photos of ferrets dressed as characters from all of your favorite sitcoms: Gilligan's Island, Baywatch, The Brady Bunch, Miami Vice... And I can't believe we were in the room for 2 hours before someone thought to peek behind the red velvet-curtained boxes on the walls and pull the chains: more eagle dioramas, spotlit. Oh yeah.

Oh the Irony!

So it's all over the music press, or at least the music blogosphere, that Koopa is the first unsigned band to break into the UK Top 40, debuting at #31 with Blag, Steal, & Borrow. The UK charts decided to acknowledge the ubiquity of independent music and digital distribution by changing the rules this year to allow digital single sales to count towards a chart position even if there is no physical version. ...and I decided to acknowledge the same by buying my first MP3 Player. No, I'm not a Luddite. I'm just cheap.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I'm having a Shinsgasm! The Shins will be opening their Wincing the Night Away tour at First Ave on Feb. 8, and I will be there. (Thanks, Jon) I don't care if it's not cool to like them anymore- Garden State be damned. I suppose if I was a truly hardcore I would have downloaded all the tracks by now. But to me The Shins are such a whole-disc kind of band, so I'm waiting until the 23rd to buy the CD. But I have been listening to all the leaks and reading anything about the new release I can get my hands on.

Here are tidbits from the press junket thus far:

Don DeLillo's white Noise is "one of the best-written novels" James Mercer has ever read. Drowned in Sound, Jan. 15.

Part of the insomnia James Mercer writes about on the new disc was caused by living next door to a crack house. This is also where James Mercer is compared to Woody Allen. The Guardian, Jan. 5.

James Mercer will be singing backup on 3 of the new Modest Mouse tracks due out in March. Billboard, Jan. 5.

Eric Johnson from the Fruit Bats has joined the Shins. Pitchfork, Jan. 2

The cover art for Wincing the Night away, suggesting "diatoms," was designed by James Mercer's brother Robert. The Stranger, Dec. 5.

"Sea legs" uses the sounds of bottlecaps on the amp and a guitar pick on teeth. Officious Business: The Shins Go Hollywood with John Krasinski, Filter, Holiday 2006.

James Mercer writes the melody for a song first, then comes up with lyrics using "'some kind of imagery provoked by the music,'" usually from his personal life. He is living in the same house that Elliott Smith lived in when he recorderd Roman Candle. Great Expectations, Magnet, Nov/Dec. 2006.

The Kinks, 'Only You' by the Platters, 'Please Please Please' by James Brown and The Zombies and a Hawaiian band were all heard at James Mercer's wedding, Drowned in Sound, Nov. 22.

Other notable Shins press:
Shinning the Mainstream. The Sun, Jan. 12.
The Shins: Airy Pop Hits It Big NPR, Jan. 12

Headcase

Did you know that Pete Townsend is on record with at the O.E.D. as the earliest known user of the word headcase? Read all about it in Cyber-Neologoliferation.

Are you an amateur etymologist yourself? Well, here's your chance for fame and fortune...