One of my absolute favorite places to go when I need a laugh is Vice Magazine. The Do’s & Don’ts are hilarious.

I have no idea who writes the captions but it’s comedy gold.

My pal Jen, who writes for Paste magazine, turned me on to last.fm in April. This highly addictive website charts every song that you listen to after you download their scrobbler.

Friends can post quick little comments in your shoutbox. Anyone can recommend artists and songs. You can write blogs about an artist, a song or whatever.

Where Last.fm truly shines is in finding new music. You can surf through different users. Today for example I came across a profile and I honestly didn’t know any of the artists this woman listened to. I spent the day being educated on a slew of new artists. Not all of it was good but I heard at least 5 songs that made me want to know more about that artist.

The way it works is each user has a “virtual radio station.” Last.fm builds a station around what the user listens to and that’s it. I can’t recall a time I’ve been exposed to so much new music since I was a DJ in college. All this can be heard in the last.fm player which you simply download.

You can browse by genre. There are even stations built around certain groups. Say for example you want to hear music similar to Chemical Brothers. There is a station for that.

If you really want to know what I’m listening to go to my profile and see for yourself. It’s at: http://www.last.fm/user/jamsmooth

If you’re a music freak like me, you couldn’t ask for a better tool. It’s way more interactive than Pandora and gives you a richer experience.

Check it out.

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Feist is Canadian. She plays in the super group Broken Social Scene. Like all the folks in BSS she is a solo artist. Only recently did I start listening to her when I tuned into Ayala Surit’s station on Last.fm.

Feist has such a beautiful voice and uses it on great songs. Since I’m only now becoming familiar with her work I don’t have many favorites yet. However, “One Evening,” from the “Let It Die,” record is such a great song. It’s like 70′s era The Eagles meets Fleetwood Mac. Tons of Rhodes on it too.

Check her out. You will not be sorry.

Ask the Brand New Heavies what year it is and they’ll swear it’s 1994 or maybe even 1974.  Their new record, “Get Used To It,” is filled with throwbacks from 70’s era disco, funk and R&B.

Listening to “Get Used To It,” it sounds as if not a day has passed for them in 12 years.  Maybe The Heavies have a secret funk Narnia wardrobe where they go and time in the real world never passes?

I say 1994 because that was the last time this line up of the group released a record.  Since ’94 the Heavies used other singers but none of them matched so perfectly like N’Dea Davenport.

Davenport’s voice is as strong as ever.  It hasn’t aged at all in 12 years.  The rest of band sounds just as fresh.  Since not much has changed in the Brand New Heavies world we have great songwriting, great horn and string arrangements, great musicianship and great personality.

“Let’s Do It Again,”is pure disco.  “Get Used to it,” mixes reggae with funk.  “Sex God,” recalls The Mary Jane Girl’s, “All night long.”  The drum sound on “Sex God,” is so roomy I love it.  “Right On,” is a James Brown jam urging you to, “Put back the funk in music.”  “Music,” might be the only lacking track.  Songs about the industry are overdone but there is a cool tabla breakdown.

I’d written The Heavies off.  I didn’t think they could rekindle or even come close to the greatness they had in the 90’s.  They did it.

Side note:  As you may know I’m partial to the Rhodes.  This record is filled with it.

On the song, “The Fly,” Bono says, “It’s no secret that a friend is someone who lets you help.” I could not agree more. In the past 2 days I’ve been blessed by the actions of true friends. Some of them helped me out in small ways, some big.

Last night I went to “Game Night” at my friend Patty’s house in Midtown. She really pulled the stops. There were 4 pizzas from Mellow Mushroom, all kinds of dips, cheetos, gum and candy. She also had party favors of freaky sunglasses, jacks and little board games. We played Trivial Pursuit and Taboo! Then we had some conversations about sex toys and what’s better, a Jack Rabbit or the real thing.

I parked right in front of a no parking sign. To my estimation I was in front of the sign. I thought I was OK. Why oh why didn’t I listen to the that small, faint voice in me head?

You know this feeling? The feeling of when your stomach drops 5 feet into the ground and you swallow hard? I as walked to the spot where I parked, I had that feeling. My car was gone.

Somehow I knew it wasn’t stolen. I knew for whatever reason “someone” decided that I’d parked illegally.

Fortunately my friend Dewitt was there to give me a ride home.

I sort of freaked about this. I didn’t lose my cool. I only wondered do I find my car? Where could it be?

The next morning I got onto Google. I searched several different word combos, atlanta impound, city hall east.

I called Police Information and then they gave me the number for Personal Property. I gave them my tag number and sure enough they had my car.

If you’ve been lucky enough to go to the Personal Property Division of the Police Department, then you know what a treat it is. The place smelled like an ongoing poker game had taken place for the last 50 years. The smell of stale cigarettes and government waste filled my nose.

For more on the dialogue and for awesome photos of this experience go to James’ blog at Atlanta Metroblog.

Without too much pain I got the release for my car. Then we had to head down to A-Tow to get my car.

Again consider yourself “lucky” if you get to see this side of humanity. A-Tow is a lot like the Personal Property Division, it’s the land that God forgot. This was painful. After $105 swiped on my Amex I got my car.

James and I spent maybe an hour total getting this done. Not too bad when you think about it.

The lessons I learned from this are poignant. The keeper is how grateful I am to have friends like James. To have a friend who will drive you all over town to the sketchiest places you can go, is a blessing. To have my car registration in a place where I can easily grab it and remember where it is (you need that for the city to release your car), is a blessing.

The other lesson is don’t tempt fate when it comes to no parking signs. From now on when I park I while drive a little extra and not take a risk of guessing. I will make sure there is no doubt I am parked legally.

Pedro had a problem, sangria. He drank too much of it. The voice in his head told him not to drink anymore. He didn’t want to waste it. He thought of his homeland of Spain and how much he missed it. He thought of his pregnant girlfriend.It was closing time and bartender aksed Pedro to leave. Pedro told the bartender to wait while he finished his drink.

The bartender asked Pedro again to leave. Pedro told the bartender to go to hell and to be nice to customers.

The bartender walked over to Pedro and grabbed his collar. Pedro spun around hit the barkeep right in the nose. As the blood gushed from his nose the barkeep put Pedro in a sleeper hold. Within 20 seconds Pedro was out cold.

The bartender ran over to the bar and called the police. Pedro was arrested. His visa had expired. He was deported to Spain the next day without being able to tell his girlfriend anything.

Creative Writing was my minor in college. I loved it and it was one of the few classes where I made A’s easily. The classes were small and we got a lot of attention.

Typically with art classes your work is judged by the other students in the class. I read my stories aloud to the class. Afterwards the entire class and teacher would comment on your writing.

The other day this goal came across 43 Things that said, “Post really, really short stories.” So I started doing it yesterday. I wrote three short stories yesterday.

I’m going to start posting them here on Jamsmooth.com too. Like in class, I welcome your comments and criticism.

It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of The Flaming Lips.  (Read my post from the Centennial Park show.)  I just watched, “The Fearless Freaks,” a documentary of the band, and my respect has grown immensely. 

This film goes deep, way deep into the past of the band and up to the present.  It features interviews with practically every member of Wayne Coyne’s family.  They share a lot of personal information about growing up, stints in jail and yes, lots of drug use.

Quite possibly the most profound scene in the film is when Lips member (and musical genius) Steven Drozd talks about his heroin addiction.  During the scene Drozd talks openly about his addiction while he prepares a hit of heroin.  He talks about how it feels and he talks about how the addiction has taken everything from him.  Somehow, miraculously he is able to kick the habit with the help Coyne, Michael Ivins and Dave Friddman. 

What touches me about this film is the sincerity of Wayne Coyne as an artist.  His approach to music and art is so genuine.  He’s a workaholic too.  Still he learns from his father’s death, also a workaholic, that life if meant to be lived to fullest.  He says further that he doesn’t wait around to do things, if he wants to do something, he does it.

I’ve got my tickets for The Flaming Lips show on September 13th.  I will go into this show with expecting what everyone else expects, an incredibly unique and visually stunning show.

Now these guys have reached hero status with me.  Their music has always inspired me but now I have a deeper appreciation and respect for these true musical geniuses.

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