Stevie Nicks-themed tambourine art will save our economy

With our financial infrastructure in free fall, the dollar staring at a precipice of worthlessness and vast swaths of America about to become hobo villages, Soundboard has a suggestion for a sound investment for you and your family's future: Stevie Nicks-themed tambourine art.

We received this tip from a friend-of-the-editor's blog about Johanna's Art, your home for "fantasy portraits of Stevie in magical settings that you may enjoy." Many of which appear on Nicks' preferred instrument, the tambourine! Sadly, the site is no longer accepting commissioned portraits where your likeness can share shaker space with Nicks, but for those out there who spent their childhood -- and adulthood -- crooning along to "Tusk" into a hairbrush (certainly no one we know, right, Margaret?), this might be the single best Christmas present ever.

-- August Brown

Photo of tambourine art featuring Nicks and a lupine friend from www.johannas-art.com

L.A.-based hip-hop/electro producer Arabian Prince is best known for his beatmaking for N.W.A. While that group set the influential template for West Coast rap's gangsta legacy, Prince's solo productions were even further ahead of their aesthetic time. Hip-hop and electronica have a long and intertwined history, (going back to Afrika Bambaataa spinning Kraftwerk instrumentals), and Arabian Prince was one of the first to establish that crossover in the West Coast tradition, pairing reverbed-out drums and icy Goblin-style synths with lascivious sex raps.

So, you're in a band that just plowed a few grand into retrofitting your tour van to run on vegetable oil, requested all-recycled paper plates on your rider and decided to telecommute to your appearance on Conan to avoid emissions-heavy plane rides. You can now ply your new double-vinyl LP masterpiece with environmental impunity, right? Fail! Vinyl LPs are made with PVC plastic, which is packed with dioxin, phthalates, lead and other fun ingredients that can cause cancer, birth defects and respiratory problems, among a whole host of ailments. They're also nigh impossible to recycle and, like all plastic, take centuries upon centuries to biodegrade.

I nearly threw up in my mouth a little this morning. I opened a package from Warner Brothers, thinking they might just make my day with Ashford & Simpson's "Hits, Remixes & Rarities." But upon closer inspection of this double disc, I noticed something. Their signature song (and only No. 1 hit on the R&B charts), "Solid," is nowhere to be found on either disc.

What kind of sick, twisted world are we living in when a best of A&S comp doesn't include "Solid?" Would you release Prince's greatest hits without "Purple Rain"? How about a remix disc by Sade missing "Smooth Operator"? Didn't think so.

I don't care what kind of music publishing behind-the-scenes scenario went down here, and I know the offering is subtitled "The Warner Bros. Years," but Warner Music (via Rhino) got "Solid" the last time they put out a greatest-hits package in 2002. What gives, guys? Next time, do the fans a "solid" and get a decent remix added to the package. That said, we are feelin' the "Over and Over" remix and the "Found a Cure" mix.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Rick Rowell / ABC Inc.

In the pile of holly-jolly cash-ins on my desk, one stands out: “The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection.” Oy vey! The emblematic Nice Jewish Boy of “American Idol” just couldn’t resist putting on that Santa hat and getting in the Christmas mood. And exclusively for Target!

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)

Arabian Prince: hip-hop’s old new wave

L.A.-based hip-hop/electro producer Arabian Prince is best known for his beatmaking for N.W.A. While that group set the influential template for West Coast rap's gangsta legacy, Prince's solo productions were even further ahead of their aesthetic time. Hip-hop and electronica have a long and intertwined history, (going back to Afrika Bambaataa spinning Kraftwerk instrumentals), and Arabian Prince was one of the first to establish that crossover in the West Coast tradition, pairing reverbed-out drums and icy Goblin-style synths with lascivious sex raps.

So, you're in a band that just plowed a few grand into retrofitting your tour van to run on vegetable oil, requested all-recycled paper plates on your rider and decided to telecommute to your appearance on Conan to avoid emissions-heavy plane rides. You can now ply your new double-vinyl LP masterpiece with environmental impunity, right? Fail! Vinyl LPs are made with PVC plastic, which is packed with dioxin, phthalates, lead and other fun ingredients that can cause cancer, birth defects and respiratory problems, among a whole host of ailments. They're also nigh impossible to recycle and, like all plastic, take centuries upon centuries to biodegrade.

I nearly threw up in my mouth a little this morning. I opened a package from Warner Brothers, thinking they might just make my day with Ashford & Simpson's "Hits, Remixes & Rarities." But upon closer inspection of this double disc, I noticed something. Their signature song (and only No. 1 hit on the R&B charts), "Solid," is nowhere to be found on either disc.

What kind of sick, twisted world are we living in when a best of A&S comp doesn't include "Solid?" Would you release Prince's greatest hits without "Purple Rain"? How about a remix disc by Sade missing "Smooth Operator"? Didn't think so.

I don't care what kind of music publishing behind-the-scenes scenario went down here, and I know the offering is subtitled "The Warner Bros. Years," but Warner Music (via Rhino) got "Solid" the last time they put out a greatest-hits package in 2002. What gives, guys? Next time, do the fans a "solid" and get a decent remix added to the package. That said, we are feelin' the "Over and Over" remix and the "Found a Cure" mix.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Rick Rowell / ABC Inc.

In the pile of holly-jolly cash-ins on my desk, one stands out: “The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection.” Oy vey! The emblematic Nice Jewish Boy of “American Idol” just couldn’t resist putting on that Santa hat and getting in the Christmas mood. And exclusively for Target!

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)

Vinyl nerds, you’re killing the Earth

So, you're in a band that just plowed a few grand into retrofitting your tour van to run on vegetable oil, requested all-recycled paper plates on your rider and decided to telecommute to your appearance on Conan to avoid emissions-heavy plane rides. You can now ply your new double-vinyl LP masterpiece with environmental impunity, right? Fail! Vinyl LPs are made with PVC plastic, which is packed with dioxin, phthalates, lead and other fun ingredients that can cause cancer, birth defects and respiratory problems, among a whole host of ailments. They're also nigh impossible to recycle and, like all plastic, take centuries upon centuries to biodegrade.

I nearly threw up in my mouth a little this morning. I opened a package from Warner Brothers, thinking they might just make my day with Ashford & Simpson's "Hits, Remixes & Rarities." But upon closer inspection of this double disc, I noticed something. Their signature song (and only No. 1 hit on the R&B charts), "Solid," is nowhere to be found on either disc.

What kind of sick, twisted world are we living in when a best of A&S comp doesn't include "Solid?" Would you release Prince's greatest hits without "Purple Rain"? How about a remix disc by Sade missing "Smooth Operator"? Didn't think so.

I don't care what kind of music publishing behind-the-scenes scenario went down here, and I know the offering is subtitled "The Warner Bros. Years," but Warner Music (via Rhino) got "Solid" the last time they put out a greatest-hits package in 2002. What gives, guys? Next time, do the fans a "solid" and get a decent remix added to the package. That said, we are feelin' the "Over and Over" remix and the "Found a Cure" mix.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Rick Rowell / ABC Inc.

In the pile of holly-jolly cash-ins on my desk, one stands out: “The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection.” Oy vey! The emblematic Nice Jewish Boy of “American Idol” just couldn’t resist putting on that Santa hat and getting in the Christmas mood. And exclusively for Target!

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)

Solid outrage!

I nearly threw up in my mouth a little this morning. I opened a package from Warner Brothers, thinking they might just make my day with Ashford & Simpson's "Hits, Remixes & Rarities." But upon closer inspection of this double disc, I noticed something. Their signature song (and only No. 1 hit on the R&B charts), "Solid," is nowhere to be found on either disc.

What kind of sick, twisted world are we living in when a best of A&S comp doesn't include "Solid?" Would you release Prince's greatest hits without "Purple Rain"? How about a remix disc by Sade missing "Smooth Operator"? Didn't think so.

I don't care what kind of music publishing behind-the-scenes scenario went down here, and I know the offering is subtitled "The Warner Bros. Years," but Warner Music (via Rhino) got "Solid" the last time they put out a greatest-hits package in 2002. What gives, guys? Next time, do the fans a "solid" and get a decent remix added to the package. That said, we are feelin' the "Over and Over" remix and the "Found a Cure" mix.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Rick Rowell / ABC Inc.

In the pile of holly-jolly cash-ins on my desk, one stands out: “The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection.” Oy vey! The emblematic Nice Jewish Boy of “American Idol” just couldn’t resist putting on that Santa hat and getting in the Christmas mood. And exclusively for Target!

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)

Elliott Yamin puts on a Santa Hat. Oy vey!

In the pile of holly-jolly cash-ins on my desk, one stands out: “The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection.” Oy vey! The emblematic Nice Jewish Boy of “American Idol” just couldn’t resist putting on that Santa hat and getting in the Christmas mood. And exclusively for Target!

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)

The Katy Perry challenge

I'm pretty sure I know Katy Perry, the latest Matrix spawn, if only in that "around the hipster corridor" way. We've rubbed shoulders at Echo, shopped next to each other in Wasteland or maybe I just read about her in Nylon. Anyway, she looks very familiar.

Her CD is in my hands. It already felled two hardy music listeners in the office, who claim to have not been able to make it past the 50-second mark on track one, succinctly titled, "Ur So Gay." I'm about to dive in. I will be blogging in real time. I am a little scared:

0:16: It's starting a lot more downbeat than I thought it would. There's some whistling going on, given a bit of the wickety-wick treatment.

0:29: Nice first line: "I hope you hang yourself by your H&M scarf."

0:44: You're so indie rock it's almost [unintelligible]... You need SPF 45 just to stay alive... You're so gay and you don't even like boys."

1:39: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make-up than [me]..." Ooooh, so this is an angry song to someone she had a thing with. How boring: I'm more into the hipster rip, aimed at any and all in the subset. On the plus side for Katie, she's not a bad singer. Kind of meaninglessly vampy but she's got a nice throaty tone.

2:24: Crappy scatting alert! Augh. You can't do that for a few seconds and then bow out. If you're going to scat and you're not Ella Fitzgerald, then you better at least embrace it for more than 10 seconds.

2:46: The song is winding down now with some keyboard twiddling and that stupid whistling sample again. I'm a little grateful when the song gets glitchy, thanks to the whims of my ancient PC.

3:39: It ended and I don't remember very well what I just listened to. But, in my afterthoughts, I'm thinking that the lyrics, sassy and all-knowing, didn't really match the song, with its ironed-on samples from the 99-cent bin. I mean, whistling? Come on, even Peter, Bjorn and John will tell you that's pretty lame.

So I made it through. The song is sort of rattling around in my head. Oh god, what if I can't get it out?

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. The guy to the right is A.K.A. I don't think his scarf is from H&M so I'm assuming he's not the "gay" in question.

(Photo courtesy Ian White / Columbia)