First and foremost let me say congratulations to The Big Sleep for scoring Band of the Day on Spin (dot-com). If you don't know by now, The Big Sleep is gearing up for the release of their debut full-length Son of the Tiger that drops tomorrow courtesy of French Kiss Records. Make sure you pick up a copy of the album at your local record shop or better yet iTunes, and stop by the release show this Thursday evening at the Mercury Lounge. Joining them on what is sure to be a family affair kind of evening is The Comas and Other Passengers. It should be a killer night and rest assured I'll be there with my twin sister in matching mustaches.

To answer Dogger's questions (see below), yes, there have been many good times over the past week despite my lack of posts. I'm trying to find time to keep writing, but more and more it becomes a condensed process. So you know, the past week was out of control. Work at Webster is stepping up, but I still managed to get out and rock it. Tuesday evening I held a private Black Sheep show at Mo Pitkin's. You can read about it here and here. Thanks so much to all the friends who made it out for the show. Dres brought a band on stage and had a killer performance. It was further touched by old school royalty when Jus Ice and the Legion joined him for a song or two. Sammy B (Jungle Brothers) was also on the cut, (I had to say it). Expect more to come from Black Sheep as we're getting ready for a digital only return on 10.24.06, but I'm not here to pimp myself too much.

Wednesday was crazy. Absolutely bonkers. After the John Mayer show at Webster, I returned home, but my conscious wouldn't let me stay there. Around 11pm I busted up to Gotham Hall to try and get into the Diesel party. The place was jammed, but once I ran into Hawkins and Walker Texas Awesome, I knew it was on. We eventually got inside in time to catch a drink before a choir appeared on the second level behind some Roman-esque pillars. They were draped in white which added to the angelic feel of their soulful intro. As soon as they finished, the band appeared on stage along with some cheerleaders and back-up singers. Yes, I was about to witness a James Brown concert for the first time in my life.

Despite James having the appearance of a wax figure - weathered face and tired looking purple tux - he beamed with the energy of the James Brown I've seen on so many concert tapes. It made for an amazing experience even though the sound was a bit off due to the acoustics of a massive room. I danced, I drank and I found old friends doing the same. By the time 2 Many DJ's came out to do a set, the room had loosened up a bit and we were able to break it down for a couple hours before throwing in the towel. It was an amazing experience.

The rest of the week couldn't stack up to that, but I did manage to catch Lake Trout and Calla at the Bowery before getting absolutely twisted at Fontana's. On Saturday Beach and I met DTL, Danny and Sonya in Brooklyn for some badminton before Notre Dame got the shit kicked out of them. Later Hawkins, Noah and I met Rory and Christen at the Mercury to catch The Whigs set. Watch out for that band - their southern style is very familiar, but I'm not going to lay out the comparisons that I'm sure you've already heard.

FYI - 120 Days is a band that was scheduled to open The Big Sleep party on Thursday, but their VISA's got declined because one of them had a pot offense or something on their record. That totally fucking sucks. The band is outstanding and is yet another brilliant pick off by the folks at Vice Records. Take a listen. It has roots in my favorite - Neu! - but it should also appeal to fans of !!! (Chk Chk Chk) and bands of that sort. You should like them, unless your stupid.

Finally, Tumbleweed passed this along this morning. Food for thought (I'm mostly interested in what Paul with bring to the comments section):

How many 8 year olds could you take on at once?

The specifics:

- You are in an enclosed area, roughly the size of a basketball court. There are no foreign objects.
- You are not allowed to touch a wall.
- When you are knocked unconscious, you lose. When they are all knocked unconscious, they lose. Once a kid is knocked unconscious, that kid is "out."
- I (or someone else intent on seeing to it you fail) get to choose the kids from a pool that is twice the size of your magic number. The pool will be 50/50 in terms of gender and will have no discernable abnormalities in terms of demographics, other than they are all healthy Americans.
- The kids receive one day of training from hand-to-hand combat experts who will train them specifically to team up to take down one adult. You will receive one hour of "counter-tactics" training.
- There is no protective padding for any combatant other than a standard-issue cup.
- The kids are motivated enough to not get scared, regardless of the bloodshed. Even the very last one will give it his/her best to take you down.

Please feel free to reply and discuss the number of 8-year-olds that you could beat up at once.