Big Bowl of Suck

So another day, another bombshell. My filehosting account was deleted yesterday, though I guess they were nice enough to refund the remaining credit on the account. Will to blog slipping .... slipping...slipping away. Just kidding. I guess that's the end of direct links here (nice while it lasted I hope) and it's back to Mediafire or something. Spare time has been drastically diminished by a new job, so expect the post count to slow down, but I'll still be here plugging away.

In lieu of a real post today, I'll just rehash some recent covers-related news:

• Cover compilation Guilt by Association, Volume 2 is now out digitally. Artists include My Brightest Diamond, Kaki King, Matt Pond PA, and of course Mr. Max Vernon. Honestly I've never heard of nearly half the song picks, so I must be totally out of the loop. Not to mention, I consider Need You Tonight, In the Air Tonight, heck even We Didn't Start the Fire as legitimately normal pleasure songs. Just not feeling the guilt! So that's available now on iTunes, which includes a bonus iTunes track of The Bloodsugars performing Lady in Red. Physical disc hits stores in February. Speaking of Max Vernon, he's got a couple new songs on his YouTube page. Good stuff.
  
  
• Marianne Faithfull has assembled an eclectic group of musicians (Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright, Cat Power, Nick Cave, Keith Richards, Sean Lennon, and more) for two discs of eclectic cover choices (Neko Case, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Randy Newman, Dolly Parton, Morrissey, and more). Check the full tracklist at Pitchfork. Release date is January, though apparently it's on iTunes in Europe.
  
  
• Elvis Costello's Spectacle is gearing up to be a must-see show. It'll be shown on the Sundance Channel in the US, but fortunately for us Canuck viewers, CTV will be airing it concurrently with the American airdates starting with December 3rd's debut episode whose special guest is (strangely enough) the show's executive producer Elton John. Costello reportedly covers Elton John's Border Song (one of my faves). The show will feature performances and conversations with a wide array of guests including The Police, Lou Reed, Bill Clinton (!), Herbie Hancock, Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Rufus Wainwright, and many more. I'll be setting my imaginary PVR for the February 11th episode featuring She & Him, Jenny Lewis, and Jakob Dylan. Nice!
  
  
• Recently Okkervil River talked to MTV in a "singing interview". One segment was all about cover songs, bizarrely to the tune of The New Pornographers' Challengers. Another one of these US only things, but I managed to watch a snippet of it through some overly complicated proxy thing. The constant re-buffering gave me such a headache I had to stop it. Funny thing about this singing interview gimmick is I did not digest a single word they were saying, which I suppose speaks very poorly of my music listening abilities. I couldn't help but hum or sing in my head the real lyrics. Also, CONSTANT RE-BUFFERING! Get a real video player, grrr. By the way, what do you call re-lyricized songs if it's not meant to be funny like a parody? Can't think of any off the top of my head, but I know I have a handful of such songs.
  
  
• Jam band Umphrey's McGee played a Halloween show in San Fran that featured some covers and live mash-ups including an inspired combo of the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, Pink Floyd's Money, and Zepp's How Many More Times. 7NA vocals over the How Many More Times riff is pretty awesome. Other unlikely pairings: Michael Jackson vs. Pink Floyd, AC/DC vs. Black Sabbath, Pantera vs. Metallica vs. Gorillaz, and Daft Punk vs. The Doors. The whole bootleg is up on the Live Music Archive here.