Today was the first in a week I had the chance to sleep in. So when do you think my upstairs neighbor decided to vacuum?

I've been running on empty all this week. Four shows four days in a row has taken everything out of me. I feel like I'm rushing through these podcasts, hurrying to get to a point in my week where I can stop and take a rest. That has to change.

I intended to do this one straight through, with no editing, but I just couldn't do it. You'll hear the outtake at the end, just like last week. I also forgot to mention the Welcome to Ashley song, between Ladies and Gentlemen and Alex White. Again, I blame fatigue. Oh, and hooray for dropping the F-bomb right away in the first song - sorry kids, iTunes says you can't download this one. You'll have to download it here instead. Or you can subscribe to all of them in the music player of your choice.

Here's some links to a couple of the songs:

I Wanna F*** by the Heaven Seventies - Yeah, the one with the F-Bomb. thanks to Chicagoist

The Daily Void - Two songs are available there.

I think the best moment of last night at the Double Door was when Muchacha dedicated their song "Bailout" to AIG.

Pictures are here, here, & here.

I finished volume 3 of my new podcast, Stick It In Your Ear, last night.

I pretty much showcased all the shows I know of that are happening in the next three weeks, so this volume is a little different. First, I took bands from my itunes library that have been most recently and most often played. Beyond that, I created the playlist on the fly, as I recorded the podcast, in an attempt to catch a little more "live" feeling. The result? Well, let's just say, next week, I'll be preparing the playlist before starting the podcast.

Weird that I woke up today with an urge to hear The Stone Roses, and I didn't even realize it's the twentieth anniversary of their self-titled album release.

This was my view of Cut Copy last night at the Vic.

The music and energy were awesome, though.

Speaking of my podcast, volume 2 went up last night! I titled this one "In Like a Lion..." I know March is supposed to go "out like a lamb," but I don't feel the same holds true for music. I think you'll agree if you listen to some of the bands I played who are appearing around town in the next couple of weeks.

Yes, I know Electric Six are from Detroit. It's close enough! Plus, not only are they playing in Chicago April 6, but it seems they spend more time here than they do in Detroit anyway. I meant to mention it during the podcast, but for some reason I forgot.

Once again, you Apple and iTunes freaks can get the enhanced version with chapters, artwork, cookies and ice cream. Okay, it doesn't have cookies and ice cream, but if you want those, I'm sure the store's still open. As always, you can subscribe to the feed here.

Going back to a packed schedule of activity is definitely shocking my system. At the end of every week I find myself physically, mentally, and even medically exhausted. Twice in the past two or three weeks I've miraculously dodged some flu or virus or whatever that would threaten me for a day or so. It's only a matter of time before it overpowers me.

Wednesday I went to see the Tennis Courts and Dorian Taj at the Double Door. Dorian and Wes Hollywood from the Tennis Courts have been around longer than I have, and they're still at it. They put on a good show. Good enough, in fact, that I included them in yesterday's podcast.

Thursday found me at Liars' Club to see Das Gluv. Lauria still knows how to vamp the audience, and I was digging the keyboards in this band. I wanted to include them in my podcast too, but they didn't bring any of their CDs with them. Hey guys? I'm still waiting on that mp3 you promised!

I know I kept this pace easily five years ago. So I have to wonder, have I just grown unused to it, or am I, as Danny Glover would say, "too old for this?" Stay tuned, because I'm certainly not giving up just yet.

I can't seem to make feeds work with .m4a files, which apparently is a known issue with feedburner, and to solve it I'd have to host my files on a different server! (Thanks, feedburner.) So I guess I'll have to settle with providing the enhanced podcast as a link here in this post. Which is what I did there, in that last sentence. See it? Good. This file is in Apple's .m4a format, so it isn't for everyone, I guess, but it's a smaller file and includes chapters and artwork. I'd try it out if you're using Itunes, and it looks snazzy on newer ipods and iphones too.

Maybe in the next podcast I won't let the music totally pounce all over my intros. Gotta work on those segues!

So I didn't get to see Otter Petter last night because I got pulled into the black void that is Wicker Park nightlife. I'm sure I'll get plenty more chances. A friend insists they suck anyway, but I'm not letting my opinion be swayed so easily. Perhaps she doesn't care for mindless pop with lyrics you don't have to delve to deeply into, or she wants something that has to surprise her at every turn. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the music. Frankly, after several listens to their album, I find they're talented and the melodies are fairly catchy. Sure, they may not be the next Radiohead or big thing or whatever, but not everything we listen to can be The Greatest Thing Ever. We leave that distinction to the sound of my dog whining incessantly while I'm trying to sleep. Believe me, it's on constant rotation on my ipod. I hear he's playing Pitchfork this year. You heard it here first.

It's here. It's what I was alluding to in the last blog post. Stick It In Your Ear, my new podcast, is finally going live!

It's very rough; there are obviously a lot of things to iron out, especially the idea of getting a real microphone. The aesthetics of the web page and whatever, I will tackle tomorrow. Also, there's an enhanced version with chapters and extra artwork which I'll also link to tomorrow. Other than that, I hope you download it and enjoy it.

The link to the bare-bones mp3 is here.

The official rss feed is here, in case you care to subscribe and get future volumes automagically.