Comedy Central Renues Crap, Ditches the Quality Absurdist Majesty of Stella

Stella has been cancelled. If you'll remmeber I did a bit of lobbying to get the show saved but alas it was reported today that the show would not be comming back for a new season. Luckily we'll get fresh episodes of Mind of Mencia, The Show Biz Show with David Spade, Blue Collar TV, and Drawn Together. Millions of dollars in TV production and not a dime to quality. BAH!

In possitive Stella news they should have a DVD of the first season and a possible tour this fall. Also they will be hosting Kareoke at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday.

Kudos as always to The Apiary for keeping us abreast of our gneral comedy situation.

You Tube has a bunch of skits, and a bunch of other stuff that has nothing to do with the comedy troup Stella.

Zach Galifianakis More than Occasionally Blows My Mind with Hillarity

Back in January I went to The Onion Anti Holiday party. It was a festive time I got to bang on the stage along with the Wrens, Eugene Mirman made us cackle over his videos and Mission of Burma rocked shit out like only original post-punks can. But the real performance highlight of the evening was Zach Galifianakis.

He hit the stage like a ton of bricks and walked around the crowd doing free form comedy like a man possessed. Apparently Zach doesn't have much touring in his near future. Unless you live in Alfred, NY (and who the eff' does live there?!?) where Zach will be playing Alfred University on March 26th, you're shit out of luck for a live Galifianakis-attakis. Luckily You Tube has Zach's amazing Comedy Central special in it's entirety(shhh). This special made the veins* in my friend Eric's head buldge so much that I thought they might explode.

Also Zach was recently in a Fiona Apple video. Who knew?!

*I really wanted to spell "veins" V-E-I-G-N-S. Ya know with a silent "G". I love silent g's.

Musical Obsession Alert: Oh, You're So Awesome Jens

Jens Lekman is currently in my top ten reasons I'm lamenting my current joblessness. Le sigh. You see Jens Lekman will be playing the Pitchfork sponsered Intonation Festival. I don't think I could commit myself to plane tickets and a hotel right now but I would love to make it out to Chicago to take in Jens' performance(to be fair I'm sure the other 34 artists and my general happiness with last year's Intonation experience, will push me over the edge of depression very soon).

Since the release of 'Oh, You're So Silent Jens' this fall,(OK, since I heard about how amazing the compilation of EP's and singles was from Pitchfork) I've become more and more obsessed with Lekman. I've begun not only downloading his own beck catalogue, but also any band he mentions in even a passing manner in interviews(José González, Scout Niblett, Maher Shalal Hash Baz).

Jens hits me in all the best ways his songs are catchy and melodicly memorable, he's got a sense of self loathing that I find apealing in any artistic endevor, and his music is the sort of post modern aschmalts pastiche that I can't find nearly as often as I'd like. But the real catch with Jens is the word play as well as the über modern lyrical references (he approaches Warren G and 2002 war protests with a sort of nostalgiac elegance that's as heart breaking as it is alien sounding).

Basically all this comes down to a simple truth: I don't care about any other musical artist nearly as much as I care about Jens Lekman right now. He's awesome, and now my fan-boy rant is over.

Awesome Jens Video!!!

Today's "Best Song Ever"

Boris "Pink"

Like jazz metal requires a sense of stamina if it's to be played right. This can lead to a certain kind of musician always hitting their mark but never able to explore the space between the martial stomp of a solid metal song. Boris refuse to be stuck in that box. Like the best jazz musicians Boris are able to hit all there marks and play with the space between their triplets. On "Pink" drums skitter around riffs, riffs give way to swells of controlled feedback and all of this gives way to one of the finest pop bridges in recent memory.

Download, Listen, Discuss.