I now have a ticket to see Nine Inch Nails live in Knoxville this coming August. Rock!

Holy Christmas!!! Trent Reznor is really outdoing himself this year. Just a few months ago he released “Ghosts: I-IV,” an ambitious set of instrumental tracks. Now he is letting us download the new Nine Inch Nails album “The Slip” … for FREE!

Thank you, Mr. Reznor. You’re my hero!

I am shocked that I made it this far in life without hearing Bjork’s song “Play Dead” from the 1993 movie “The Young Americans.” I know I will get slapped for saying this, but I do miss the more “pop” oriented sound Bjork had back in the day …

Bjork – Play Dead [5.83 MB]
(You can right click to download and save for later.)

New news about The Cure. The much anticipated album (called “13“) will be out on September 16th. Meanwhile four singles will hit stores over the next few months leading up to that September release date.

There will be 4 tracks released from the album in the lead up to its release in September – one a month for the next 4 months. A physical CD single and digital download will be made available simultaneously. The single versions are edits (each will have Mix 13 on the artwork) and not the album versions. None of the B sides will appear on the album. The B-Side on “The Only One” will be a song called “NY Trip.”

As a new semi-regular post, I am gonna write a wee bit about the introduction to and first song I heard from some of my favorite bands.

First up is Skinny Puppy.

Back in the golden days of High School education, my best friend, Roger, and I became quite fascinated with hearing Skinny Puppy. There was a senior who ran around all the time wearing a “Remission” T-Shirt which was what got us interested. One night while we were kicking around Asheville, Roger bought the only Skinny Puppy cassette that we could find. That cassette was of the album “Cleanse Fold and Manipulate.” We got back to my house and put the cassette in the player for a proper listen. I must say that I was totally stunned by what I heard. Roger decided that his mother would totally freak out if he brought such music into the house (she was pretty religious), so he gave the tape to me. I listened to it like crazy. My mother would poke her head into my room and just shake her head. She never did give me any grief about what I listened to.

So, for your listening pleasure, the first Skinny Puppy song I ever heard (right click to download and save for later):
Skinny Puppy: First Aid [6.17 MB]

The new Diamanda Galás album “Guilty, Guilty, Guilty” is now out in stores. You should check it ’cause it’s quite fantastic. I really want to see her live sometime. Maybe in August in New York City … maybe.

Well, yesterday’s big snow petered out as usual and we only got about 1/2″ – 1″ here in the good old mountains. Bah! Our bonus along with the snow has been super frigid temps (like in the single digits). I don’t see how people live in the far north.

We have one more rehearsal of “Minor Demons” before opening tomorrow night. The cast (myself included) is finally starting to get the script settled in our brains. There has been a whole lot less jumping all over the place though there are still the few dropped lines. It’s gonna be interesting to see how people react to the show.

New Year’s Eve pictures are coming. I promise!

Meanwhile, enjoy some gloom and some doom …

Diamanda Galas – Gloomy Sunday [4.4 MB]