Calm down everybody just CALM DOWN

Dear WebMD,
Today's dire economic climate has resulted in staggered layoffs at my company which has in turn caused a swelling epidemic of fear and despair. Even those without kids or a mortgage are having a hard time coming to grips with what it feels like to lose not only a steady paycheck but the comfort of an everyday routine, no matter how joyless it may have been for some. While I am more comfortable than most with sudden upheaval and the specter of poverty, the general air of anxiety is starting to stress me out. This sickness is catching.
Also I have a chicken pox-like rash, the sniffles, and my eye won't stop twitching. Am I dying?
Thanks,
Ghostproof Blanket

Dear GPB,
Yes, you are most definitely dying. We all are. And you should know better than to seek me out for answers when it just freaks you out.
Thanks for writing!
WebMD

Talking Heads - Warning Sign (CBS Studio Demo 1975)

Adult. - In My Nerves

Yo Yo Chicago

I'm DJing (and when I say "djing" I am using air quotes the size of giant foam finger sports-fan hands) with my Radio Free Chicago compatriots Wednesday night at the Burlington. Come hang out!

Another DCMA Blogger Takedown Notification

What made this one extra-special is a.) I got this track from the artist's PR and b.) according to said PR reps, the mixes were made from stems Kanye released himself. Off to back up this blog before it gets deleted entirely which is starting to seem kind of inevitable.

"He Makes Me Want to Be Smarter, He Makes Me Want to Be More Involved"

Scroll ahead to around the minute mark on. My Beyonce love has reached fever-pitch. It was like Here, and now it's Up Here.

Yes, yes, and yes. I'm so sexcited and hopeful about America today! Ok politics time is over, tomorrow it's back to all Giggles N Fartz 2: Kitten Boogaloo.

Hats Off.

Tomorrow I'm joining 4,000 other people in a citywide volunteering effort in honor of MLK. It's put together by a great organization I'm active with, and I agreed to pass out waivers and answer questions, etc. Cool, awesome, happy to do it. But today I learned that I have to wear a logo hat. I HATE HATS, the majority of them make me look dumb, and I prefer my community organizing to be 100% headwear-free. The salve on this wound is that per my registration name badge, people will have to address me as "Unicorn" all day. Next step: legal name change.

Hey p.s., if you don't volunteer and don't know where to start this site is a great jumping off point. Or check out all these! It's good for your healf. No for real, it makes you discover a whole new heart inside your heart of hearts. Dooo eeet.

Later on Saturday I'm headed to Schuba's for Thunderheist and Hey Champ! at the Tomorrow Never Knows fest. Zebo and Hey Champ! are my new favorite Chicago discoveries and these songs have been coloring my world this week.

T-Pain - Can't Believe It (Hey Champ! rmx) (divshare)

Donna Summer - Sweet Romance (Zebo rmx) (divshare)

These Pigs Wanna Blow My House Down

In addition to having my last post deleted by Blogger, my hosting account was suspended on the same day. Thank you Eric Green of Destiny Enterprises, whoever you are. Suddenly I'm super gun-shy and afraid to post even songs that PR firms and labels send me. So here are three soul classics that The Kids won't run to like bees to honey, like college students to the latest Ladyhawke remix. Is that safe enough for you, piracy pirates? Free GPB!!!

Lee Dorsey - A Lover Was Born (divshare)

The Trinikas - Remember Me (divshare)

Baby Huey and the Babysitters - Hard Times (divshare)

My Favorite So-Oh, Wait, Blogger Took Down This Post.

Last night I got a message saying that my last post had been removed due to a violation of the Digital Copyright Music Act. I am banned in the USA. Not safe for work. Too hot for TV.
Speaking of too hot for TV, since I'm way too lazy to even repost the names of the songs you should download somewhere else, here is the most innocuously entertaining thing I've come across today: A clip from an old episode of "Check, Please!" featuring one Barack Obama. "Check, Please!" is a show on Chicago PBS in which a buncha Joe Foodies sit around a table and debate their individual experiences with a local restaurant; it's oddly hypnotic in the same way that "Antiques Roadshow" is which means I've only seen it while hungover on a Saturday afternoon. Here's Obama in the more innocent world of August 2001, before everything changed forever: before Aaliyah died in the plane crash!



Those Johnnycakes, they'll getcha.

My Favorite Songs from 2008, Part 1

Yes I know I'm late, I was away until Wednesday. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just some stuff I listened to constantly but never got around to posting.

Busy Signal - Tic Toc (div share)
I posted the MIA and Rye Rye's remix over at RFC in October.

Fannypack - The Theme From Frank (via RCRD LBL)

The Heavy - Colleen (div share)

Q-Tip - Won't Trade (div share)
Sure, it's more of the same Q-Tipness; the album sounds like a slightly more modern follow-up to "The Love Movement" but who cares? When I eat Arby's it's because I specifically want the taste of Arby's. It's delicious and I know exactly what I'm getting every time.

Trey Songz - Paper Planes Freestyle (div share)
This wins best of the 1,000 remixes this song got. That said, I'm completely comfortable with not hearing any version again for about 3 years.

Dan Black - HYPNTZ (div share)
I don't know anything about Dan Black -this song was sent to me- but he seems to earnestly love the original as much as I do.

Walter Meego - Forever (Van She Tech rmx) (div share)

Second half to come tomorrow, bleep blorp tiredness, 2009: EVERYTHING'S FINE.