Fishbone's It’s a Wonderful Life (Gonna Have a Good Time)
You know, for a mythological dude, Jesus is pretty cool. I mean, not only does he come back from the dead every Spring, but he is born anew every single Winter, like clockwork! Gentiles call it “Christmas”. CEOs call it “ka-ching!” I call it "time to dust off the ol’ Christmas tunes": a little Dean Martin; a little Nat King Cole; one Bing Crosby song-- two, if you throw in his homoerotic ode to small boys with drumsticks with David Bowie; and Fishbone.

Being broke is bullshit. Thankfully, Christmas came early, and I got The Revenge of the Robots DVD in the mail. What’s it all about? It’s all about Def Jux. What’s Def Jux? It’s fucking amazing, that’s what it is. Not because it’s the next big thing; because it’s a new, good thing. And good music is rare. Def Jux is an independent-as-fuck label, home to a collective of MCs, DJs, and producers taking their love and respect for hip-hop culture, and music in general, and breathing some new breath into it.

Chances are you know “the” Underworld song. Yeah, you know the one I’m talking about: “Born Slippy”. Come on! You know which one I mean. Think about it.

In the winter of 1990 I had just turned 14 years old. I was dating a girl named Amy Gill at the time. I had just stolen her away from her other boyfriend, the quarterback for my high school’s football team. She was the first girl that ever let my little young hands wander down her pants. Needless to say, she was dope. Equally as dope was INXS. Yes, that INXS. What the fuck do you want? The '80s had just ended, for Christ’s sake!

My opinion: as popular as hip-hop may be, or seem to be, it’s way underappreciated. Most of the kids I know who love it and listen to it don’t realize how fucking intelligent it can be. The Battle for L.A. is a little something that could help point that out.

This DVD is gonna make you kinda sad, folks. Maybe not right away. But when you realize what you’ve watched, it will hit you. The Legend Live is the last recorded performance before Marley’s death two years later. It was filmed in 1979, at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, and was part of a massive tour of political and spiritual significance for Marley. Though it may have been taking its toll mentally and physically on the singer, it in no way hindered his ability to perform.

I’m the luckiest boy in the whole world!
“Why?” you ask. “Did you get to paint an elephant?”
Nope.
“Were you allowed to jump into a swimming pool of Guinness?”
Nuh-uh. Cooler than that.
“Were you fortunate enough to be at Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s 18th birthday party?”
No. And it’s definitely not as cool as that, so thanks for ruining it for me, asshole.

Good God, man! I didn’t realize it’d been so long since Barenaked Ladies (BnL) had released their last album until I heard they had a new one coming out! Everything To Everyone is the slightly tongue-in-cheek title of the Canadian band’s newest album. As a follow-up to the swell-- but commercially disappointing-- Maroon, it still bravely continues to move the band’s sound forward, all the while remaining true to the style they’ve been developing since their start way back before their major label debut with 1992’s Gordon.

Once in a while, in the vast, lowbrow, skanky wasteland of network TV, a show that is different, exciting, and unique pops up,.. and is swiftly cancelled. One such show is The Tick, now available on DVD.
The Tick is the story of a big, nigh invulnerable blue guy, his sidekick Arthur, and their superhero life in The City. It started as a comic book by Ben Edlund, who shepherded The Tick from the funny books to a hilarious Saturday morning cartoon to this equally funny live action TV show.

Oh, this is nostalgia, alright. Asheru and Blue Black just put me back in the halls of junior high, swapping tapes full of Tribe and Brand Nubian with my friends; listening, laughing, and having a good time. That’s when good music was good music. There was no such thing as a “backpacker” yet. People didn’t look down on you and call you "sellout" if you got radio play. Hip-hop was just plain good music.