Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)
Sat and Sun at the Beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Garden
click here for schedule and info
Saturday will be rainy most likely, but Sunday should be nice

From Flavorpill Despite Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls, the obsession with Lost in Translation, and the widespread acceptance of Murakami's pop art, we should acknowledge that Japan is about more than modern pop culture trends. For a taste of old traditions, there's the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. And no, you don't have to go to DC to see them — it's just a short subway ride to Brooklyn. The two-day festival features a full schedule of events, including Samurai sword fighting, Taiko drumming, classical concerts, and woodblock printing classes.

And, if you can get a ticket, Death From Above 1979 are playing the Bowery Ballroom Sat, Apr 30 -- doors open at 8:30pm. Tickets are $15

From Village Voice
They're a duo from Canada, but we won't pass judgment. Nor will we chastise them for being on Vice Records and being the sort of quasi-/neo-metalheads that just might wear girls' jeans and trucker hats. Why? Because they totally rock: dancey disco beats, robotic turbo bass, and sticky-sweet classic-rock vocals that have you singin' along about young love and blood on yer hands all while headbangin' and doing a li'l Ashlee Simpson jig. With Uncut and Controller.Controller.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mark you calendars. Check out some music. Help prevent our neighborhood from turning into a generic suburban hell:

Williamsburg Warriors and Kill Whitie present REZONE THIS! @ CLUB EXIT

Greenpoint, Brooklyn
April 28th, 2005
Tickets $12.50 advance, $15.00 door. Advance Tix at EAT Records

Doors open at 8:00pm, show starts at 9:00pm
Featuring TV on the Radio, Dragons of Zynth, Apollo Heights, Roxy
Pain, and Tha Pumpsta with Chief Quievie
REZONE THIS! a show organized by local Williamsburg/Greenpoint community groups features a show and dance party to raise awareness of the city's plan for OUR waterfront rezoning.

From Todd P:
a sort of secret GHOST EXITS reunion show is happening after the TVOTR show - Thursday 2/28 - and FREE BLOOD (members !!! aka Chk Chk Chk) is playing too.

It's at Club Exit after the TV on the Radio show, really late, during the Kill Whitie dance party. It'll be $6 to get into the late late party.

The bands'll go down in the lapdance room / vip lounge @ Club Exit - 147 Greenpoint Ave @ Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint Brooklyn.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Matt Taibbi has another great column this week on the recently passed bankruptcy bill. You know, the bill that the credit card industry has been bribing Congress to back. Here's an excerpt:

But my absolute favorite is the amendment, proposed by Bill Nelson of Florida, to exempt from means testing individuals whose debts were incurred as a result of identity fraud. It would be hard to imagine any legitimate objection to this amendment. The only rational objection to this amendment would be that your tongue is so far up the ass of MBNA [the world's largest independent credit card issuer]that you can't possibly vote for it. Which says something about the Senate; the amendment was crushed, 61-37.

Among the Democrats who voted "Nay" to that amendment were Carper, who received $86,107 from credit card companies last year, and our Capra-esque civic hero Biden, who received a total of $144,700 between 1999 and 2004 — far more than he received from any other industry.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Damn you Access Hollywood. We were flipping to see if Pat O'Brien had returned yet from his coke and hooker binge (he's on The Insider but we get confused since they're essentially the same show) and heard the souless blonde autumaton, Nancy O'Dell, utter the word Brangelina. That's right, Access Hollywood coined a combination of Brad and Angelina who are rumored to be an item. It was bad enough having to endure the inane "Bennifer" thing. Don't put us through six months of "Brangelina." We never run gossip stories and could care less if Pitt and Jolie are an item. We just want the cutesy tabloid name combos to stop. If you want to give Brad and Angelina a print-friendly name, at least come up with something more interesting like Jo-Pitt, Brangenital Warts, or simply, The Pretty Fucking Stupids.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Interview by Monte Holman

About five years after his inaugural solo release, Sam Prekop gives us the follow—up, Who's Your New Professor (Thrill Jockey), an album that charms and puts a jazzy pop spin on post—rock. Prekop, formerly of Shrimp Boat and currently of the Sea and Cake, has a lot of critical acclaim to live up to. His self—titled first solo album was praised by just about everyone, and other projects he touches-his paintings and photos have received a lot of attention as well-turn to gold. But the pressure of this acclaim seems to have fueled Prekop rather than paralyzed him. Proof: Who's Your New Professor is among his best work.

Simultaneously channeling the Sea and Cake's fluidity while exploring subtler abrasiveness, Professor expands preexisting notions of Prekop's songwriting. He surprises us with mini—movements that change forms effortlessly and manage to qualify as pop songs. The percussion on the album slices through catchy melodies like a Ginsu, so fine it's practically unnoticeable. Prekop's warm, graceful vocals finish the songs with a dollop of sophistication.

Before embarking on an extended early summer tour (see dates after the jump) to support his new solo album throughout Europe and the States, Sam was kind enough to speak with us about Chicago, the new album, and the Meat Puppets.

******************************************************

FREEwilliamsburg: You grew up in Chicago and are there still. How would you characterize Chicago right now? Is there a sense of community or competition, both?

I have to admit I feel somewhat out of the loop at this point. Of course I know a lot of people who are musicians and artists, and I don't sense any intense competitive energy [laughs] coming from them. Now the bands that are starting up—it could be ferociously competitive—I have no idea. I've been here so long making music and art that I don't pay an enormous amount of time to what else is going on. I mean I go and see shows, and I live right above Thrill Jockey, so I'm pretty knowledgeable of whatever is coming out on Thrill Jockey. That's sort of my community. But Chicago's really big, so there's no way I could provide any grand scope on what's really going on here.

FREEwilliamsburg: Do you think you'll ever leave?

I could see someday leaving, I guess, but as long as I'm making music I'll probably stay here because I need the system here to get things going, to play with other people that live here, the clubs, the label, all that stuff.

FREEwilliamsburg: Did you have everyone from the first solo album contribute to this one?

Pretty much, except Jim O'Rourke played on the first one and produced it-he was the only one missing.

FREEwilliamsburg: And John McEntire produced Who's Your New Professor?

Yes, I mean ultimately, it was a collaborative effort, but in terms of the actual technical skills, that would be John.

FREEwilliamsburg: How much of a directive role do you play in the solo albums when it comes to the percussion and other instruments you aren't necessarily playing?

It's pretty much a band situation. I spend a lot of time writing the tunes and getting them up to a presentable form, or at least a form I think sounds like a song. Sometimes I'll come in with not too much—a riff or something-but usually for the solo stuff I have it pretty well together. My aim usually is to get the others to do what they feel is right. We'll all talk about each piece, what direction it should take. I'm just trying to get the best out of them. I don't tell them what to do, and they're all good enough to respond quite uniquely in the best possible way to whatever I put out there—I trust them on that.

In some instances after everyone adds their stuff, I sort of take free reign. Like the song "Dot Eye," the first half actually had some drumming on it, and when it came down to mixing it, John and I decided the drums were not working on that part at all. And we didn't call Chad and ask him [laughter] if it was ok to get rid of his parts. They trust me to do that.

That's where it sort of splinters apart from the Sea and Cake-in that band, everybody's got to stay around the entire time, whereas in this band everybody leaves and there's just me to deal with it.

FREEwilliamsburg: You said you spent a lot more time building songs around melodies and lyrics for Who's Your New Professor.

In the past I've always gotten the tunes sounding and feeling really complete without me thinking whatsoever about what the lyrics or vocals will do. In a way, my initial thoughts were that the singing part was by far the most challenging aspect, and as a result I'd always just blow off the vocals until I actually had to do them. So then in turn it was like I'd have to deal with perhaps overly elaborate arrangements and orchestrations before the vocals. I've gotten better at knowing how the vocals will function with the tune. And this time around I decided that it would probably be useful if I started singing along while I was developing the tunes from the ground up. That wasn't the case on all of these tunes, but on a lot of them, the vocals and music arrived simultaneously and seemed to change the mechanics of the tune on a basic level. I don't know if the end result is radically different, except that I think I wanted to make the vocals more clear and up front. So part of focusing on them earlier in the process helped.

FREEwilliamsburg: So you were happy with the turnout?

I was, but I'll say I still went through a period where I actually had to write the words and nail it down.

That's one place I've run into trouble before-it's like we're playing this part eight or nine times over and over again, way too many times for me to sing anything. So I got myself out of that problem this time, but I still blew off doing the vocals as long as I possibly could. I did find that technically and musically getting the vocals to work was easier because chord changes with the vocals made sense. But actually getting what I wanted, getting the best performances, was a pain in the ass as usual.

FREEwilliamsburg: I've read you do a lot of home recording. Is that where you put together sort of rough drafts for the solo albums?

I use home recordings as sort of jump—off points and present them to the band. Oftentimes I start thinking that, indeed, I might be able to salvage some of these things I've come up with because I've come up with a lot of stuff. But something distracts me or I get bored with it, so I have all these mountains of unfinished little directions that I never take past a certain useful point. I really hope someday I can get a whole record out of my home studio. There's something to be said for collaborators, for sure, and that's the way I've always worked.

FREEwilliamsburg: How do you decide who goes on tour with you?

This time around, it's proved difficult to line everybody up. If I had my way, everybody on the record would be coming. The only person who's not coming for the bulk of the tour is Rob Mazurek, who doesn't play on every tune but is fairly integral to the live band. Compared to four or five years ago when I did the last solo record, whereas all those people were very available [laughs]-they weren't doing anything else-times have changed. I've had a really hard time locking up the dates with Chad Taylor and Josh Abrams.

Actually in Europe, it's just going to be Archer and I playing as a duo. Chad and Josh are playing in London, but then it'll be just Archer and I as a duo, which we've done before. It's actually nice, pretty different. We'll be playing most of this new record as well as some older stuff.

FREEwilliamsburg: When it's just you and Archer, do you take a drum machine?

We just go without. I've thought about using a drum machine, but it sort of defeats the advantages of just the two of us. There's a whole other quality to it that's pretty good, very "of the moment." We're playing the tunes, but in the duo situation, they're sort of malleable in a sense. If we were to lock it down with a drum machine, it would get rid of that quality.

There's one tune on the new record, "C + F," that I assumed we weren't going to be able to pull off as a duo because it seemingly depended on the beat and claps and coronet, but we've been working on another arrangement that highlights two guitars playing together. It's different, but most of the tunes work pretty well.

FREEwilliamsburg: Your parents are both artists. What sorts of projects do they do?

My dad does everything, mainly painting, but over the years he's done a lot of sculpture and photography. Right now he's doing installation art in terms of making his entire house like an installation project, so it's pretty wild. And my mom is an artist as well, more the fashion and design side of it.

FREEwilliamsburg: And your siblings?

I have two brothers. My youngest brother, who lives probably near you in Brooklyn, he's a painter and musician as well, and my other brother makes furniture, designs it and stuff.

FREEwilliamsburg: Besides music, you also paint and take photos. Are you doing that right now as well as the solo project?

I'm not doing them right now because I haven't really figured out how to make music and do paintings at the same time. What I end up doing is somewhat enforced by outside things, like I'll agree to do a painting show at some point, so I'll end up painting. Or I'll decide to make a record, do that, and then go on tour. Right now, I'm preparing to go on tour, so that's mainly what I'm doing.

My next painting show is in September in Davenport, IA, at this museum. I've been trying to paint in between things for that, but it's proven to be slightly difficult. I'm going to be painting as much as possible after this tour. I think I need about ten paintings, and they all don't have to be new, so I think I'll be ok.

FREEwilliamsburg: What was the first concert you went to?

I don't know if it was the first concert, but it was pretty early on. I saw the Meat Puppets play at this tiny bar, and I had their record, Up on the Sun, so it was right around that time. I don't think I was 21 yet, but I was able to go somehow. It completely blew my mind that they were driving around in a van [laughs]. I figured if you have a record out, then that's it. It's all happening now. And that was my first glimpse of the reality of all this stuff. At that point, in a van, tiny bar, not many people there, and I was completely blown away. I was like "how can this be happening?" It was a great show-I totally loved it-and that record I think was definitely a big influence on me.

FREEwilliamsburg: What's next after the Who's Your New Professor tour?

Well I've got to make some paintings for this show in Davenport. I'm thinking about hopefully getting the Sea and Cake back in the studio in the fall. I'm also working on a book project, maybe. It's going to be a book of paintings. That's not totally solid yet, but hopefully it will happen.

Wed June 1 Burlington, VT — Club Metronome w/ James Yorkston
Thu June 2 Boston, MA — Middle East
Fri June 3 New York, NY — Mercury Lounge
Sat June 4 New York, NY — Mercury Lounge
Mon June 6 Philadelphia, PA — First Unitarian Church w/ James Yorkston
Tue June 7 Washington, DC — Black Cat w/ James Yorkston
Wed June 8 Charlottesville, VA — Satellite Ballroom
Thu June 9 Carrboro, NC — Carrboro Arts Center
Fri June 10 Atlanta, GA — Red Light Cafe

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sufjan Stevens's new record Illinois isn't set to be released until July 5 but it's happened again.... an Internet leak. If you are an impatient, heartless bastard with no scruples, check it out here.

Here's the upcoming tracklist (care of Pitchfork)

01 Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
02 The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I have fought the Big Knives and will continue to fight them until they are off our lands!"
03 Come on! Feel the Illinoise!
-Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition
-Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
04 John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
05 Jacksonville
06 A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
07 Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!
08 One Last "Woo-hoo!" for the Pullman
09 Chicago
10 Casimir Pulaski Day

11 To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and it involves shoe string, a lavender garland, and twelve strong women
12 The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13 Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14 A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16 They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!
17 Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18 In This Temple, as in the Hearts of Man, for Whom He Saved the Earth
19 The Seer's Tower
20 The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders
-Part I: The Great Frontier
-Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21 Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
22 Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I shake the dirt from my sandals as I run

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

FROM AP

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn, addresses a crowd via teleconferencing at an evangelical Christian rally called 'Justice Sunday,' Sunday, April 24, 2005 in Louisville, Ky., in an effort to rally churchgoers to protest the filibuster tactic used by Democrats to stall President Bush's picks for the federal court. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

"Religious" leader James Dobson knows the GOP is under his thumb. As he stated at the rally after encouraging the people in attendance to put pressure on pandering legislators:
"Republicans are real good at trembling."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Rock? What the fuck? From ComingSoon.net

Cherry Road Films and Darko Entertainment announced today that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will star opposite Seann William Scott ("American Pie" films, The Dukes of Hazzard) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge) in the science-fiction thriller Southland Tales for writer-director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). Sean McKittrick will produce under the Darko Entertainment banner he co-founded with Kelly. Cherry Road principals Bo Hyde and Kendall Morgan will produce. Executive producers are Matthew Rhodes and Judd Payne of Persistent Entertainment, Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel of Inferno Distribution, and Oliver Hengst of Academy Film Gmbh.

Principal photography is slated to begin on August 1 in Los Angeles. Cherry Road Films has officially greenlit the picture with co-financing from Universal Pictures International, Inferno Distribution and Wild Bunch, with Universal distributing in most foreign territories through the UIP banner, and Wild Bunch distributing in France, Benelux, Spain and Switzerland. Richard Klubeck of UTA is representing on the domestic front.

Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Johnson will star as Boxer Santaros, an action star stricken with amnesia whose life intertwines with Krysta Now (Gellar), an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and David Clark (Scott), a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

"Dwayne, Seann and Sarah each have an adventurous spirit and I am honored that they have put their faith in me," said Kelly. "The film is going to be a strange hybrid of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick."

Also joining the project are most of the key crew from Donnie Darko, including director of photography Steven Poster ASC, production designer Alexander Hammond, costume designer April Ferry and editor Sam Bauer. Critically acclaimed artist and producer Moby will compose the music for the film.

In addition to the feature film, an expanded version of Southland Tales will be presented as a nine-part interactive experience with the prequel saga to be published as six separate 100 page graphic novels, each written by Kelly. The graphic novels will be released over a six month period early next year leading up to the film's release with the feature film comprised of the story's final three chapters. In addition, the film's official website will be one of the largest and most elaborate ever designed for a feature film. "The graphic novels will work in tandem with the website, creating a more epic multimedia experience for those interested in taking the plunge," added Kelly.

Be sure to check out the bizarre website

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We're glad others are enjoying HAL as much as we are. From the Independent:

[Hal] is a wonderful piece of work, its 11 songs managing that trick, shared by all great albums, of sounding individually distinct yet of a piece, like Revolver or Forever Changes. That's not too strained a comparison, either: I've not heard another album in the past few years whose songs lodge so securely in the memory, one after another, a string of pop pearls that lightens one's load and lifts one's spirit.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SATURDAY APRIL 23rd @ CLUB EXIT
147 Greenpoint Ave @ Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

BLACK DICE
Eric Gaffney & Jason Loewenstein (original members of Sebadoh)
Blood on the Wall
Cause Co-Motion

get there early, bands have to be over by midnight!

[ BLACK DICE ]
BLACK DICE, with acclaim ranging from such outlets as The New York Times to Frieze magazine, have been creating an international underground stir. Past performances at art spaces such as the Andrew Kreps Gallery and the Swiss Institute, align them with the New York art world. Notorious for their history of aggressive live performances that challenge sound barriers, their music has grown to a state of spatial complexity, creating a sea of electronic bass tones, altered vocals, percussion experimentation and abstract guitar drones. Black Dice has released records on DFA and Troubleman Unlimited records.

[ ERIC GAFFNEY & JASON LOEWENSTEIN (SEBADOH) ]
Founding two thirds of Sebadoh III era Sebadoh, plus Eric was there all the way back to The Freed Man - drums on Weed Forrestin' even. Responsible for all of the harder, weirder Sebadoh output, these two guys haven't played together in years - since Gaffney left to protest Sebadoh's more commercial turn, just before the Bakesale record. Eric has rounded out his days since the early nineties putting out records and touring under the Fields of Gaffney moniker.

[ BLOOD ON THE WALL ]
Bro and sis duo Courtney and Brad Shanks and most of the time drummer Miggy Littleton (who also used-to-play in White Magic). Smart co-ed indie rawk like you didn't think they made anymore. Rock 'n roll. "BOTW is a classic fucked up rock band, hitting the earth's atmosphere at just the right angle to produce all kinds of heat." - Time Out NY

[ CAUSE CO-MOTION ]
Tight concise un-twee pop, played clean with uneffected guitars and bass, and a just the facts three piece drumkit. smart snappy songs and neat and tidy melodies. " simply thrilled and smashing times. reverb disasters and crash-pop shambles. wobbly bass. quarter sleeves, cotton shoes, and awkward hats." - Josh Gabriel, Artrocker Zine

[ CLUB EXIT ]
Club Exit is a fuckin' crazy designed to the hilt Polish super disco located above a Burger King around the corner from the Greenpoint Ave train station in Greenpoint, Brooklyn - Little Poland, NYC. Club Exit achieves some kind of comfy elegance - perhaps in spite of it's many many rooms and levels of pulsating lights, lasers, smoke, backlit ovular furniture, light fixtures, bathrooms sinks, bartops, etc - in general lots and lots of backlit opaque plastic and brushed steel. You've walked past it a zillion times - you've got to see the inside of this place. All VIP lounges and secret hidey-holes will be open to everybody for the duration of this event.

ADVANCE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE @ EAT RECORDS -&- @ REJOICE
EAT RECORDS - 718.389.8083
REJOICE - 718.599.6646

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This cover is nothing short of hilarious:

click for full cover

Matt Taibbi sums up Friedman's new book perfectly in the coinciding article:

"Man flies on planes, observes the wonders of capitalism, says we're not in Kansas anymore. (He actually says we're not in Kansas anymore.) That's the whole plot right there...... Friedman spends the rest of his huge book piling one insane image on top of the other, so that by the end—and I'm not joking here—we are meant to understand that the flat world is a giant ice-cream sundae that is more beef than sizzle, in which everyone can fit his hose into his fire hydrant, and in which most but not all of us are covered with a mostly good special sauce."

We're glad to see Matt's "infamous" Pope article hasn't dulled his edge.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is either the worst video of all time or the best. Click here now. You must see this.

Wing is pretty priceless too. Click here to hear her ABBA and Beatles covers.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

From Reuters:
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed a vote on the nomination of John Bolton as U.N. ambassador after a Republican senator said he was not prepared to vote for him on Tuesday and cast the nomination in doubt.

"I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton," Ohio Sen. George Voinovich said, stunning fellow Republicans who were set to push the contentious nomination through the committee on a party-line vote.

Without Voinovich's support, Bolton's nomination faced being bottled up in the committee on a 9-9 tie vote that would not advance it to the full Senate.

Democrats contend Bolton, currently the top U.S. diplomat for arms controls and an outspoken critic of the United Nations, has displayed a pattern of abusive behavior toward subordinates and tried to force intelligence analysts into writing their analyzes to suit his views.

They pressed to delay the committee's vote to give lawmakers more time to consider information that became available since last week's confirmation hearings.

After Voinovich's comment, Sen. Richard Lugar, the Indiana Republican who chairs the committee, agreed to put the vote off until after the Senate returns from a one-week recess in early May.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[FROM Congressional Quarterly]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not list right-wing domestic terrorists and terrorist groups on a document that appears to be an internal list of threats to the nation's security.

According to the list - part of a draft planning document obtained by CQ Homeland Security - between now and 2011 DHS expects to contend primarily with adversaries such as al Qaeda and other foreign entities affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement, as well as domestic radical Islamist groups.

It also lists left-wing domestic groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), as terrorist threats, but it does not mention anti-government groups, white supremacists and other radical right-wing movements, which have staged numerous terrorist attacks that have killed scores of Americans. Recent attacks on cars, businesses and property in Virginia, Oregon and California have been attributed to ELF.

DHS did not respond to repeated requests for comment or confirmation of the document's authenticity.

The conspirators behind the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people and wounded more than 500, were inspired by radical right-wing movements. Eric Rudolph, the man charged with carrying out the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, which killed one woman and injured more than 100, was a member of the radical anti-abortion group Army of God. Initially, Rudolph was the object of a massive North Carolina manhunt in connection with a Birmingham, Ala., abortion-clinic bombing that killed a police officer and seriously maimed a nurse.

Another Army of God member, James Kopp, was convicted in the 1998 shooting of a doctor who performed abortions.

Individuals affiliated with such groups have also been involved in many smaller terrorist acts, including mailing hundreds of bogus anthrax letters to abortion clinics, and in plots to obtain and use conventional, chemical and nuclear weapons against civilians. In 2003, for instance, a Texas man prosecutors say was a white supremacist and anti-government radical pleaded guilty to charges of possessing a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities had discovered enough sodium cyanide bombs to kill hundreds of people; machine guns and several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition; 60 pipe bombs; and remote-control explosive devices disguised as briefcases in a storage space he rented. The man, William J. Krar, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
‘Still a Threat'

Domestic terror experts were surprised the department did not include right-wing groups on their list of adversaries.

"They are still a threat, and they will continue to be a threat," said Mike German, a 16-year undercover agent for the FBI who spent most of his career infiltrating radical right-wing groups. "If for some reason the government no longer considers them a threat, I think they will regret that," said German, who left the FBI last year. "Hopefully it's an oversight."

James O. Ellis III, a senior terror researcher for the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), said in a telephone interview Friday that whereas left-wing groups, which have been more active recently, have focused mainly on the destruction of property, right-wing groups have a much deadlier and more violent record and should be on the list. "The nature of the history of terrorism is that you will see acts in the name of [right-wing] causes in the future."
Focusing on Left-Wing Movements

Last year, following arson and vandalism sprees on both coasts attributed to radical left-wing groups such as ALF and ELF, the FBI made those movements its top domestic terror priority. But right-wing groups remained a concern, according to one FBI official.

"That doesn't de-emphasize our interest in other domestic terror groups," stressed the official, who would not be named discussing the bureau's counterterror strategy, during a phone interview Friday. "For us, the right-wing patriot movement remains a continuing threat." (The FBI considers militias, tax protesters, and anti-government groups part of the right-wing movement, the official said; the bureau considers violent anti-abortion extremists a separate movement.)

The DHS document, entitled "Integrated Planning Guidance, Fiscal Years 2005-2011," is dated January 2005. Its pages are marked "Sensitive - Do Not Distribute Outside the Department of Homeland Security - Draft." Each paragraph in the document is marked "(U/FOUO)," which typically indicates it has been reviewed by a government censor and determined to be unclassified, but "for official use only."

Under a section marked "Threat and Vulnerability Assessment," the document asks and answers the question "Who are the adversaries?"

First and foremost, the draft document says, are al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Second are new radical Islamist groups that arise overseas amid the rubble of the old al Qaeda organization. These organizations "could try to supplant" al Qaeda and "would see a Homeland attack as a way to attain that goal," the document states.

Domestic radical Islamic groups concern the department, because of their potential to support al Qaeda operations within the country, or to serve as a "recruiting pool" for the movement.

"However," the document reads, "we are not convinced that any of these organizations acting alone would pursue a major attack against the Homeland."

As a final item, the list notes the threat of eco-terrorists, who "will continue to focus their attacks on property damage in an effort to change policy." The document notes that although "publicly ALF and ELF promote nonviolence toward human life . . . some members may escalate their attacks."
Priorities Questioned

The document lists several groups or sources of radical violence that DHS does not consider threats to the homeland.

Lebanese Hizballah and various Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad, are unlikely to attack the United States, the report's authors conclude.

Several high-profile terror prosecutions, including cases against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation and Florida professor Sami al-Arian, rest on their connection to such groups.

"Why are we expending so many resources targeting people who have allegedly provided support to groups that don't threaten us?" asked David Cole, a professor of law at Georgetown University and a frequent critic of the U.S. government's war on terror. "How does that make us safer?"

State-sponsored terrorism also is not an immediate concern to the department, according to the document. "In the post 9/11 environment, countries do not appear to be facilitating or supporting terrorist groups intent on striking the U.S. homeland," it reads. In fact, of all the countries designated state sponsors of terrorism, only Iran "appears to have the possible future motivation" to use terrorist groups to plot against the United States.

In the past few years, according to MIPT researcher Ellis, left-wing violence has overtaken right-wing violence as the primary form of domestic terror. "When a conservative government comes to power, you see more activity from the opposite side of the spectrum," he explained. At the same time, the membership and activity of right-wing groups has suffered since the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and the broadcasting of images of the children who died in the building's second-floor day care center.

"A lot of people said, 'I'm fighting against the Zionist Occupied Government, I'm not here to kill children," Ellis explained.

Still, Ellis warned, the movements remain worthy of the government's concern. Last October, the FBI arrested a man in Tennessee who tried to buy sarin nerve gas and C-4 explosive to attack a government building. The man, Demetrius "Van" Crocker, had also inquired about obtaining nuclear waste or other nuclear material, according to the FBI.

And in 2003, a Pennsylvania man was convicted of mailing hundreds of letters containing fake anthrax to abortion clinics around the United States.

Although their activities appear to be decreasing, such groups are still dangerous, said Ellis. "We don't have the luxury of ignoring threats from either side of the political spectrum."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Nuge proves once again that his politics are as insanely bad as his music. Worst of all, we're not gonna be welcome at his annual squirrel cook-off this summer. Sounds like it may be a bloodbath this year anyway.

[From AP] Speaking at the NRA's annual convention Saturday, Nugent said each NRA member should try to enroll 10 new members over the next year and associate only with other members.

"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,'" he said. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life."

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Ann Coulter made the cover of this week's Time magazine. Here's an except of Time's jerkoff session:

"On TV or in person, you can trust that Coulter will speak from her heart. The officialdom of punditry, so full of phonies and dullards, would suffer without her humor and fire."

Truth be told, we'd feel a lot better if this phony dullard would shut the fuck up for once. Here are some examples of her "humor and fire":

"We should invade their [Middle Eastern] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

"I think we ought to nuke North Korea right now just to give the rest of the world a warning"

"Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas [who is Lebanese] to sit within yards of the president."

"God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours."

"When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty.We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too. Otherwise they will turn out to be outright traitors."

To a disabled Vietnam vet: "People like you caused us to lose that war."

"I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote."

"The presumption of innocence only means you don't go right to jail."

"I have to say I'm all for public flogging. One type of criminal that a public humiliation might work particularly well with are the juvenile delinquents, a lot of whom consider it a badge of honor to be sent to juvenile detention. And it might not be such a cool thing in the 'hood to be flogged publicly."

"[Anti-war Democrats] know that the American people support defending America, unlike them. Their real feelings are coming out as much as they can right now, which is that they're desperately dying to provide aid and support to al-Qaeda."

"Americans understand that Manhattan is the Soviet Union."

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."

"Kwanzaa itself is a lunatic blend of schmaltzy '60s rhetoric, black racism and Marxism. Indeed, the seven 'principles'of Kwanzaa praise collectivism in every possible arena of life — economics, work, personality, even litter removal."

"Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant."

Feel free to add your favorite Ann Coulter quotes in comments.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (42)

Mel Gibson to film the Pope's story

Mel Gibson is reportedly set to turn Pope John Paul II's story into a Hollywood movie. The New York Post reports Gibson has already filmed the ending to the movie. He also reportedly despatched a production crew to Rome to film the pope's funeral. Gibson, a devote Roman Catholic, last year enjoyed one of Hollywood's biggest box-office hits with The Passion of Christ. (from Ananova)

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

FROM NY TIMES

As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as "against people of faith" for blocking President Bush's nominees.

Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other. The flier does not name participants, but under the heading "the filibuster against people of faith," it reads: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."

Organizers say they hope to reach more than a million people by distributing the telecast to churches around the country, over the Internet and over Christian television and radio networks and stations.

Dr. Frist's spokesman said the senator's speech in the telecast would reflect his previous remarks on judicial appointments. In the past he has consistently balanced a determination "not to yield" on the president's nominees with appeals to the Democrats for compromise. He has distanced himself from the statements of others like the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, who have attacked the courts, saying they are too liberal, "run amok" or are hostile to Christianity.

The telecast, however, will put Dr. Frist in a very different context. Asked about Dr. Frist's participation in an event describing the filibuster "as against people of faith," his spokesman, Bob Stevenson, did not answer the question directly.

"Senator Frist is doing everything he can to ensure judicial nominees are treated fairly and that every senator has the opportunity to give the president their advice and consent through an up or down vote," Mr. Stevenson said, adding, "He has spoken to groups all across the nation to press that point, and as long as a minority of Democrats continue to block a vote, he will continue to do so."

Some of the nation's most influential evangelical Protestants are participating in the teleconference in Louisville, including Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and Dr. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The event is taking place as Democrats and Republicans alike are escalating their public relations campaigns in anticipation of an imminent confrontation. The Democratic minority has blocked confirmation of 10 of President Bush's judicial nominees by preventing Republicans from gaining the 60 votes needed to close debate, using the filibuster tactic often used by political minorities and most notoriously employed by opponents of civil rights.

Dr. Frist has threatened that the Republican majority might change the rules to require only a majority vote on nominees, and Democrats have vowed to bring Senate business to a standstill if he does.

On Thursday, one wavering Republican, Senator John McCain of Arizona, told a television interviewer, Chris Matthews, that he would vote against the change.

"By the way, when Bill Clinton was president, we, effectively, in the Judiciary Committee blocked a number of his nominees," Mr. McCain said.

On Thursday the Judiciary Committee sent the nomination of Thomas B. Griffith for an appellate court post to the Senate floor. Democrats say they do not intend to block Mr. Griffith's nomination.

That cleared the way for the committee to approve several previously blocked judicial appointees in the next two weeks.

The telecast also signals an escalation of the campaign for the rule change by Christian conservatives who see the current court battle as the climax of a 30-year culture war, a chance to reverse decades of legal decisions about abortion, religion in public life, gay rights and marriage.

"As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and organizer of the telecast, wrote in a message on the group's Web site. "For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."

Democrats accused Dr. Frist of exploiting religious faith for political ends by joining the telecast. "No party has a monopoly on faith, and for Senator Frist to participate in this kind of telecast just throws more oil on the partisan flames," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

But Mr. Perkins stood by the characterization of Democrats as hostile to faith. "What they have done is, they have targeted people for reasons of their faith or moral position," he said, referring to Democratic criticisms of nominees over their views of cases about abortion rights or public religious expressions.

"The issue of the judiciary is really something that has been veiled by this 'judicial mystique' so our folks don't really understand it, but they are beginning to connect the dots," Mr. Perkins said in an interview, reciting a string of court decisions about prayer or displays of religion.

"They were all brought about by the courts," he said.

Democrats, for their part, are already stepping up their efforts to link Dr. Frist and the rule change with conservatives statements about unaccountable judges hostile to faith.

On Thursday, Mr. Schumer released an open letter calling on Dr. Frist to denounce such attacks. "The last thing we need is inflammatory rhetoric which on its face encourages violence against judges," he wrote.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

BECK has announced a special NEW YORK gig.

The star will be appearing at the Hiro Ballroom in the city's Maritime Hotel for the exclusive show.

Tickets can ONLY be bought here.

The password to purchase tickets is: girls. Tickets are limited to two per person and priced at $25.(From NME)

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From BuyBlue.org

Based only on amounts given by their C-level executives in 2003-2004,

Ten Bluest Corporations

Time Warner, $1,713,621, 77% Blue
Viacom, $892,513, 78% Blue
News Corp, $689,549, 61% *
Walt Disney, $606,504, 70% Blue
IBM, $397,936, 68% Blue
Cablevision, $326,842, 68% Blue
Torchmark Insurance Cos., $314,441, 88% Blue
Sony Corp. of America, $287,535, 69% Blue
Working Assets, $234,255, 100% Blue
Costco, $224,803, 99% Blue

Ten Reddest Corporations

United Parcel Service, $2,361,922, 71%
SBC Communications, $2,028,031, 67% Red
Merrill Lynch, $1,900,326, 72%, Red
Pfizer, $1,465,317, 67% Red
MBNA Corp., $1,453,497, 73% Red
Union Pacific, $1,428,663, 79% Red
Southern Co., $1,041,025, 80% Red
Wachovia Corp, $998,997, 75% Red
Clear Channel Communications, $764,318, 67% Red
General Electric, $747,386, 67% Red

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It's not just Tom Delay....

From AP
Lawmakers with relatives on their congressional or campaign staffs include:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas: Wife and daughter were paid more than $500,000 since 2001 for working for DeLay's campaign and political action committees.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman: Son Matthew received about $34,000 and daughter Rebecca about $36,000 for working on the senator's 2004 presidential campaign.

Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.: Nephew Todd Reichert was paid $3,000 last year, plus several hundred dollars for mileage, for serving as driver.

California Democratic Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark: Wife Deborah earns $2,400 a month for serving as campaign consultant.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.: Wife Arlene Willis serves as congressional chief of staff at a salary of nearly $111,000.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.: Wife Laurie Stupak earned about $36,000 annually the past two years as the finance director for her husband's campaign.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio: Wife Elizabeth was paid about $1,730 a month during his 2004 campaign. She has worked as a campaign consultant for him since the 2001 election cycle.

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif.: Cousin Ken Costa made about $45,000 for serving as a co-campaign manager last year.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah: Three college-age children worked on his campaign last year. Emily was paid $5,425, Jane $9,508 and Laura $17,766.

Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.: Sister-in-law Sharon Davis has been his campaign treasurer since 1994,and daughter Libby Davis was his campaign coordinator in the last half of 2004. Libby Davis was paid about $2,334 a month; Sharon Davis was paid about $1,000 a month for bookkeeping last year.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, employs his wife, Kathy, as his campaign manager. She was paid $21,791 over four months, including a $7,500 bonus last November.

New York Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop: Daughter Molly was paid $46,995 as his 2004 campaign's finance director.

California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Wife Rhonda Carmony makes $40,000 a year as his campaign manager.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[Via Wonkette]
This is truly in bad taste. ABC even makes you watch an ad first. Callous capitalist dipshits.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's like Giuliani all over again....

From Daily News:

City cleared to XXX out smut

The Big Apple is about to get a cold shower.

An appeals court gave the city a green light yesterday to shut down strip clubs and other X-rated businesses operating outside adults-only zones.

The ruling could force 100 flesh meccas out of residential and tourist neighborhoods, and into industrial areas such as the far West Side of Manhattan.

"The only place in Manhattan that you will have adult establishments is surrounding Jets stadium," said Mark Alonso, a lawyer for Ten's Cabaret on E. 21st St.

The sex shops plan to appeal, but if they don't prevail, some of the topless bars, video stops and theaters are likely to close - or at least cover up.

Scores, for instance, would have to shutter its E. 60th St. emporium but could keep operating its club on W. 28th St., a spokesman said.

"The city is going to lose millions in taxes a year," Alonso predicted. "Businessmen don't go out of their way to see dressed women dance."

At Stiletto in Times Square, a stripper named Alexis feared she would lose her job. "I have bills to pay. I have to feed my daughter. I have to pay rent," said the 26-year-old dancer. "I make a lot of money here."

Mayor Bloomberg, however, hailed the court's decision as a victory for families who don't want porn peddlers next to churches and day care centers.

"New Yorkers won't have to push their strollers past porn shops, have topless bars for neighbors or have to worry about peep booths in the back of their corner magazine store," he said.

The city has been trying to quarantine the sex industry for a decade, starting with dramatic zoning changes in 1995 that barred adult entertainment from most neighborhoods.

Initially, the businesses were subjected to a so-called 60-40 rule: if 40% of their floor space was dedicated to smut, they could only operate in the designated zones.

Many owners found ingenious ways to skirt the rule, by stocking 60% of their floor space with copies of one children's video, for example.

In 2001, the city retaliated by amending the zoning ordinance to close the 60-40 loophole and use much broader guidelines to define adult businesses.

The stores sued to block the changes, and a state Supreme Court judge agreed the revised rules were unconstitutional.

But yesterday's 4-0 decision by the Appellate Division reversed that ruling and upheld the new zoning.

The clubs can now ask the state's highest court to hear the case, but an appeal is not automatic. In the meantime, they hope to get a stay barring the city from padlocking doors.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This promises to be a great release party. The National's new record, Alligator, is a perfect mesh of alternative country and brit-pop-inspired indie. Just what you'd expect from an Ohio-transplanted New York band. A very accomplished record that becomes more rewarding with multiple spins.

Tuesday April 12:
Record release party for "Alligator" presented by Beggars Banquet and Fader Magazine. Doors at 8pm - The National play a short set beginning at 9pm sharp. Free Red Stripe, Guiness, and Harp from 8pm to 9pm.

Supreme Trading
213 N. 8th St.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Next Big Irish Thing

Hailing from Dublin, HAL seem to have been born in another era. Their music has a classic quality to it, an innocence that takes you back to the days when you — actually probably your parents — would spend summer afternoons at the beach and evenings at a friend's place cooking out and listening to records. HAL sings happy songs about love and rock and roll. Mercury Rev relaxing at the beach with Brian Wilson. Brothers Dave (guitars, vocals) and Paul (bass, vocals) Allen, Steve O'Brien (keys, vocals) and Steve Hogan (drums) fuse falsetto harmonies with lovely organs, bright guitars, and enough pop percussion to pack a punch.

HAL's music already shines brightly across the pond even though their first album has yet to be released. Over the last few months the band shared stages with the likes of Granddaddy, Starsailor, Doves, The Magic Numbers, and fellow Dubliners The Thrills. Having offered up a couple singles to European audiences, the band's label, Rough Trade, will release HAL's self-titled debut LP May 10th here in the States and April 24th in Europe.

Critics have lauded these guys since the band's inception. One BBC review, for example, projects HAL will be playing Wembley Arena within a year's time. Mostly this sort of hype means death to would-be talents. But with a masterful upcoming record, some preliminary roadworthy testing, and the European festival circuit ahead of them, HAL appears poised to take on the challenge of critical acclaim.

Recently we sat down with the band before their third U.S. date at North Six, where they opened for Blood on the Wall, Dios Malo, and the Fiery Furnaces. They played the Mercury the previous night and spent SXSW in Austin playing the Rough Trade showcase and buying guitars on South Lamar. The conversation was easy — these lads are kind, humorous, gracious, and blown away that they get to spend their time playing and talking about rock and roll music.

FREEwilliamsburg: How long have you all been playing together?

Dave: Steve and I actually started playing about six years ago. Most of the songs didn't end up on the album.

Steve: Yeah, Paul never played an instrument before or anything, until about three years ago.

Paul: I'd be dicking around my dad's house, and the lads would be in there making music. And I'd say, "Geez, that sounds fucking great, lads, why don't you go and get a band together?" And the lads kind of showed me how to play a bit of bass and do a bit of singing, so we kind of started developing like that. We got ourselves a drummer and a few gigs, and here we are.

FREEwilliamsburg: Dave and Paul, your parents are folk singers?

Dave: They were in the early to mid seventies. Both of them were working as well. It was more of a hobby. They'd finish working Friday and head off in the car or on a train down to the country and play the folk circuit. Dad on a twelve-string and mum on a Spanish guitar doing a bit of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and all that.

FREEwilliamsburg: Do you think your parents' musical leanings influenced what HAL does?

Dave: It was always there, like all of our parents were listening to that kind of music when we were growing up as kids. And then when you're maybe 14 or 15 you start looking around at other bands trying to get away from your parents' tastes. Then when I met Steve, he played me the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, and that kind of sent me off on a mad one, you know, and I started discovering music from that era again. And it's basically all about discovering music and finding out how those people made records. You know how you listen to that kind of record and every time you hear something different? That's the kind of record we wanted to make.

My favorite thing, I got a present of the Pet Sounds sessions. It's a box set, outtakes and all that, "God Only Knows," stripped down just like the strings and a little bit of percussion and the vocals and nothing else.

Steve: It's amazing, brilliance. It's beautiful.

FREEwilliamsburg: So this all happened in Dublin? That's where you were?

Steve: Yeah, we're all still there. It's pretty chilled out.

Dave: One of the reasons we decided to record the album in Dublin was for home comforts. We could've recorded in London with Edwin Collins, but we didn't want to live in a hotel room and all that.

FREEwilliamsburg: Where in Dublin did you record?

Dave: In a guy called Ian Stanley's studio. We basically had the free run of the studio for a couple months. It's very small.

Steve: Yeah, Thin Lizzy has recorded there! [laughter, awe]

Dave: But now he's moved all his equipment to the country, so the place is just a shell. It was a really tiny studio.

FREEwilliamsburg: You have good story about getting signed. Some record execs came to your house?

Steve: Yeah, they came over from London and met us over at Dave's dad's house. We moved in a PA and brought down the organ and the Leslie and everything and set it up in the sitting room. We played a few tunes for them and made a few cups of tea.

Dave: The nice biscuits and everything. And by the end of it, they were making us tea. [laughs] We'd played a sparse amount of gigs that year around Dublin, and then we stopped because we wanted to find a bit of focus.

Steve: It didn't seem like it was going anywhere.

Dave: So we kind of just retired back to the house and started writing some new songs. And they rang us up to ask when we were playing our next show, and we said we weren't really a working band at the moment. And we said if you'd like to come over, we'll play you a gig. It was nice to do because it was a different atmosphere for them and for us — you didn't have the whole play a gig with loads of people there and then all these people telling you stuff. It was a lot more personal. They encouraged us to get up and running again as a band. That's when we rented out a venue in Dublin called the Sugar Club and we played four or five gigs there and got signed off the back of that a couple months later.

FREEwilliamsburg: Was Rough Trade there at your dad's house?

Dave: Rough Trade came later. We weren't sure if we wanted to sign any deals or anything, so we went off on tour with Starsailor and Granddaddy asked us to go out with them around the UK. And it was after that around Xmas or something that we said we'd sign with Rough Trade.

FREEwilliamsburg: How has touring been?

Dave: It opens the eye, opens the mind.

Steve: And nice plush big gigs, as well, with catering and all that.

Paul: We love the catering!

Dave: It's nice-we'd done the smaller gigs in little bars, then the gigs up until more recently we did a co-headline tour with a band called the Magic Numbers...

Steve: Ah they're brilliant. We love that band.

Dave: Then we did some dates with Doves and then some with the Thrills and some smaller acoustic sorts of things. So we were pretty busy up until now. It's weird because we were doing little small venues with the Numbers, and then you go to these bigger gigs with the Doves, and then a little bit down for the Thrills-up and down...

FREEwilliamsburg: And now you're at North Six.

Dave: You learn and