*A few cool side projects I can’t wait to talk about

*A shocking exposé on the local fight club scene (ok, less on the shocking side, more on the funny, stupid-idea side)

*Some interesting employment-related news

*A bit of Etsy love

*Some music recos

Until then, I leave you with an oldie but a goodie.

God, that’s a good song.

I feel like instead I should have shared songs whose cover versions I freaking love.

Such as:
Suicide Machines – End of the World [orig. REM]
I’m not the biggest REM fan. I think it’s mainly due to the first song I ever heard being Shiny Happy People. I’m not exactly a shiny, happy kind of person. I do like this song and I love the cover.

Not sure what’s up with the video, I’m just not cool enough to know what Naruto is and I’m too lazy to look it up.

Anything by Manic Hispanic
Back in my punker years a roommate introduced me to these guys. It’s been a love affair ever since. They put a hispanic twist on [mainly] punk covers. Can’t find my fave [12 Xu] but this one will do:

Ben Folds – Bitches Aint Shit [orig. Dr. Dre]
Lots o’ swearing here, folks. Not exactly a very nice song for women, but any song that takes a rap song and turns it into a pop ballad does it for me. Plus the line “that’s some real conversation for your ass” kills me every time [I have a very bizarre imagination, ok?].

Easy Star All Stars – Money [orig. Pink Floyd]
This video is crazy, not official [at least I don't think so]. Easy Star All Stars first came to my attention with Radiodread and I managed to catch them at Lee’s Palace when they were touring in support of the disc. I was on a really boring date and the show really spiced things up. If you get a chance to catch their live show, it’s well worth it. They’re touring right now for their new disc of Beatles covers – Easy Star’s Loney Hearts Dub Band.

And with that, I feel much, much better.

So first off, I love music. I would be pleased as boozy, boozy punch if I could go through my entire life with a soundtrack in the background. Since I got my first iPod, the idea of walking anywhere without music blasting in my ears frankly, scares me.

Yes, I had walkmans and cd-mans before that, but they weren’t the same, were they? You’d travel with one album unless you wanted to be weighed down by a stack of cassettes in your bag. The iPod (or any mp3 player, I suppose) obviously makes this completely unnecessary.

But I digress.

One of the benefits of not working has been catching up on music I haven’t heard in ages. Right now, the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack is playing. Great mix!

The most difficult thing here is choosing which song to profile. I’ve got a fairly large music library and I tend to only keep music I really like. I listen to all types of music but there’s a special part of my heart dedicated to covers (good covers, that is). It seems only fitting that I choose a cover for my first post.

I’m a little terrified of posting MP3s and suddenly having the long, hairy arm of the record company lawyers come down on me, so I shall have to settle for embedding video.

Action Camp – Gouge Away (Pixies cover)
I’m have a serious thing for Pixies. I get sick of music I hear too much, but that has never happened with Pixies. I even crush on some of the stuff Frank Black has done solo. Gouge Away is most likely my favourite song.

There are a lot of covers of Gouge Away out there and most of them are seriously bad. In truth, nothing beats the original, but this version is more than passable. There’s a hint of the electronic in there with some bad ass keyboards. Oh yes, I just referred to keyboards as bad ass.

One thing I did not know, Gouge Away is apparently all about Samson, the biblical guy. Samson was basically He-Man with bad taste in women and a wicked temper (ah, Dad would be so proud to see me write about the bible).

So here goes, if you don’t know the original, check it out.