The 40 Best Grunge Bands Ever

The first thing I considered in compiling a list of the best "grunge" bands, is what who do I consider to be "grunge" bands? Grunge is a sub genre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars

My Theme Song

Ever since we started our podcast, Nora has had her own theme song. It was created by our friend D. Verada for the show and eventually became the theme song of our podcast.

Well,not to be outdone, my friends Paul and Storm were nice enough to create a short theme song for me personally. I've always wanted a personal theme song and now I have one that I can not only use when I enter a room, but gives a nice overview of what I do for a living. You can hear my theme song here.

Thanks Paul and Storm! And if you are a musician and want to take a stab at a theme song for me, bring it on!

WootStock Art

WootStock Official Poster Art
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

A quick post here to talk about Wootstock happening Oct 19, 20 and 21st in SF and LA. My friends Paul and Storm are putting on the event with the help of Wil Wheaton, Mythbusters Adam Savage and a bunch of other cool guests. My involvement? Not much, really. Except I was able to design this totally awesome gig poster and T-Shirt for the event in the style of one of my favorite artists, R. Crumb. If you're anywhere near the area, definitely do make it to the second SF show or the LA show. Thanks to the aformentioned celebs for allowing me to share a bit in their coolness

Music, Art and Love

I do a lot of art for people. A lot of the time, I don't really get to see the end result. Case in point. My friend Jonathan Coulton enlisted me a while back to create a cartoon of himself for his guitar picks. A interesting job to be sure. I didn't even know the guy used picks, when he played, but okay. I'll humor the guy and draw a cartoon of him. Well, I sent the art to him and never got to see the end result. In fact, the few times I saw him in person, I asked him if he had any on him to spare and he didn't or HE SAID he forgot.

Time passes and I get a tweet from one of my followers asking me if that was my art on the JoCo guitar picks. I regale this poor follower with my 140 character tale of woe. He in turn, sends me a link to blog post about someone who is perplexed by the caricature of JoCo. The post includes a photo of my art.

I quickly type in JoCo's URL, hoping to chastise him on his own turf. Then I see he has posted an awesome video by an Israeli musician named Kutiman, who has basically remixed YouTube to make awesome songs:



After watching this video and the many other videos at this site, I'm okay with being snubbed by Jonathan. Oh hell, I can't stay mad at the guy. He's such a sweetheart! HUGS!

Anyway, enjoy the linkage.

Four Chords

As the name says, The Axis Of Awesome is pretty awesome. Thanks to Mark for the link.

What's The Baby Using? Electronica Version

Skyhawk, a regular contributor to ELR, was inspired recently by the "What's The Baby Using" theme that we featured on the show recently, so he decided to make a very cool electronica version. And in turn, I have decided to put it in the feed and share it all with you. Please feel free to distribute, play and manipulate as you see fit!

What's the Baby Using? Skyhawk Mix

Song Fu Challenge 2 Images: Dance Crazes!

The new Song Fu challenges are up at QuickStop and also new images for the masters have been done by me -- with the exception of Jonathan Coulton's who is resting comfortably after welcoming a new addition to his family. Congratulations Jonathan!

The challenge this time around was to create a song based on a dance craze inspired by a famous inventors invention. Sound confusing? It was, sort of. But the challengers came out punching. The Rifftones offered up "Do The Ballpoint" and Paul and Storm served up a muppet-esque "Me Make Fire". These images are also different in the fact that they were deliberately designed to compliment one another. Probably not a big deal for most other people, but it's a neat thing for me. So that's what counts.

Go on over and give your vote to the most deserving.

I Must Issue A Retraction

Five Neat Guys
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Over the past week, and on our latest podcast, I was a bit harsh on the city of Cleveland. I may have used words that could be construed as offensive to those Clevelanders with a more sensitive constitution. The words "lame" and "loser" -- maybe even "homosexual" -- could have been used to describe the denizens of this fine city.

But I must issue a retraction due to the overwhelming support that the city of Cleveland showed last night at the Jonathan Coulton/Paul and Storm concert at the Beachland Ballroom. Over two hundred thousand Clevelanders packed the small, over air-conditioned venue making it the most lucrative and sweaty Coulton concert to date. Apparently, the crowd could be seen from space with the naked eye.

All kidding aside, the show was great last night. Lots of people came. Merch was sold and more importantly, it demonstrated that Clevelanders can be cool and support cool things, with or without my berating.

I love you, Cleveland. Stay gold. And accept my apologies.

NOTE: Photo evidence of above stated good time can be viewed at this Internet Slideshow Creator.

And adding more proof of a great show, here is my video version of Paul and Storm's song "Live" in the style of Jonathan Coulton:

Meet Ronald Jenkees

Thanks to Mark for turning me onto this guy. Check out his YouTube Channel. Lotsa good stuff!

TMBG in Cleveland Tonight

Well, one of my fave bands, They Might Be Giants, are in town tonight and I'm sick. These guys never come to Cleveland that often and I really wanted to go. Ah well. At least I didn't have to give my tickets away. Plus, I didn't have anyone to go with. Just thought I'd share.

Invisible Drum Solo

Continuing with the drum thread from a few weeks ago, I came across this pretty cool video featuring Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkiinson playing an incredible drum solo, sans drums.

My Sentiments Exactly

And it only took a gal with a uke to express my thoughts. Personally, I'd like to hear a studio recording of this song. I'd play it on the show, by gum.