The Mama’s and the Papa’s

Our archaeologists dug up this early example of extraneous apostrophes on the first album by The Mama’s and the Papa’s (sic). Fortunately for them, it appears these unwelcome bits of punctuation didn’t appear on future LP covers.

Captain Lionel

Captain Lionel, originally uploaded by wordnrrrd.

Lionel Richie was moonlighting as the captain of the pirate ship ride at the NC Mountain State Fair this year. Who knew?

Click the photo for more images…most taken from the chairlift.

Happy National Punctuation Day!

Click the image to embiggen.

Click here for more from Bob the Angry Flower.

New BFF: amazonmp3.com

After taking a significant pay cut due to the economy, amazonmp3.com is my new BFF. I was excited about two album releases today: Nelly Furtado’s Spanish-language “Mi Plan,” and the duets album from Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson, “Break Up.” I wasn’t sure I’d be able to spring for them, then Amazon came through and is offering each as a $2.99 download today.

Click here for Nelly Furtado’s “Mi Plan,” which includes a collaboration with my accordion’s namesake, Julieta Venegas, among others.

Click here for “Break Up” from Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson.

Music Monday: “Manos al Aire” by Nelly Furtado

“Manos al Aire” (“Hands in the Air”) is the first video from Nelly Furtado’s Spanish-language album, “Mi Plan,” which is released tomorrow — or available a day early for only $2.99 via Amazon MP3. (You’ll have to click through to watch the video on YouTube, as embedding is disabled.)

“Llévame Contigo”: Full album for $2

Last week’s Santino Week got interrupted by a bit of a life shakeup on Friday (not necessarily a bad thing, but changes are in store) and birthday festivities throughout the long weekend, so I’m continuing it for a few days this week.

First up: big news! Santino’s new CD, “Llévame Contigo,” is available as a digital download for $2 at his website. Yes, that’s just $2. In addition to the fact that you’re getting one of the best Latin music releases of the year (oh yes, I went there) is the fact that it’s quick, environmentally friendly gratification — and since you’re buying direct from the artist, you’re bypassing record company B.S. and markups. Hooray!

So head on over to Santino’s website and show some love to an insanely talented guy. And if you need convincing beyond the videos I’ve posted over the past couple of weeks that this is an artist worth supporting, check out this snippet from the album track “Cruel”:

“Infierno”

For day 4 of Santino Week, I thought I’d share one of my favorite tunes from his first CD. This song, “Infierno,” was in the Steven Spielberg movie “War of the Worlds.” No small beans there.

“Te Burlaste”

For day 3 of Santino Week, here’s “Te Burlaste,” a song from the reissue of his first CD (“Indiocumentado”) that showcases the range of his voice. This song is also available on the live CD, which is available at iTunes…or you can head over to CD Baby and get a CD/DVD package. (CD Baby also has the original version of “Indiocumentado.”)

Santino Week continues…

I’ll go ahead and declare this Santino Week on this here blog. If one person who isn’t familiar with his music becomes a fan, it will have been worth it.

Today’s Santino post is the new electronic press kit, which Mirna mentioned in the comments of yesterday’s post. This gives a good overview of his career, from his time fronting Frágil (South America’s biggest prog-rock band) to his debut solo album (“Indiocumentado” — seriously one of my all-time faves, all bias aside) to his work in Hollywood (his songs have appeared in Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds,” the Jack Black vehicle “Nacho Libre” and on the FX series “The Shield,” among others). Enjoy…

As if I didn’t already love “Mad Men” enough…

Video link courtesy of Joey deVilla.