50 games later, I strike again!

Oh man! What happened!

I put the shame on Manny, he goes down for 50 games, and I forget where I blogged!!!!

So… now that he’s back… I guess I return too…

Here’s hoping I have a better second half than Manny.

I’m so tired of this.

Live from SunFest, it’s… me…

Hey there. I’ve been helping the new site pbpulse.com cover SunFest this week. I don’t think I’ve covered a wider variety of music in my life, and it’s kind of exciting.

Pbpulse.com started out with a rough patch — slammed with server traffic — but they’ve at least got their SunFest coverage.

I’m hoping that they get back completely on their feet soon — but then, as I helped build it, I’m pretty biased.

Here are a few links to what I and Post writer Leslie Gray Streeter have covered so far:

Sly & Robbie, reggae pioneers

Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Pennywise, punk and more

Citizen Cope, soulful rocker

Collective Soul/Randy Bachman

James Taylor

Good podcast.

About a month ago, ESPN.com writer Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy, got together with Chuck Klosterman, author of Fargo Rock City and some other great books, for a podcast. They covered a lot of ground, but the best part was listening them discuss what went wrong in the industry I chose.

Here’s a link to a good blog about the podcast from In Pursuit of the Trivial.

Are you KIDDING me?!

This made NBC News… and as The Nationals Enquirer says, How come this stuff always happens to the Washington Nationals?

Not Adam Dunn's fault: Nice spelling, guys. (AP Photo)

Journey’s Escape video game proof you are in my age group

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On this week’s somewhat disorganized but often entertaining Deadcast — that’s Deadspin’s podcast, hosted by “Big Daddy Drew” Magary — the topic of video games came up and while the trio of Magary, AJ Daulerio and Will Leitch had placed themselves behind me on the age chart with some of their mentions, when the game “Journey: Escape” came up, I shouted “You are in my age group now, boys!”

From what I remember, “Journey: Escape” — as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now — involved the corporate rock band Journey. Apparently, the goal was to save each member of Journey from some horrible fate — opening for Styx? — and get them to a live show.

If you succeeded in this goal, you’d get to hear a song — probably “Separate Ways” — played by the bemulleted quintet.

While Pac-Man and Galaga seemed to make it out of the 1980s intact, “Journey: Escape” was not as fortunate. Which is a shame, especially when there was a video-game game show on TBS that celebrated the rockin’ game’s debut in arcades.

(If someone knows the game show I’m referring to, please help!)

Journey – Separate Ways
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‘Eastbound’: Kenny and Co. get a second season

‘Eastbound’: Kenny and Co. get a second season

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Showtime: Unwed Sailor and Noble Rocket at Propaganda

Johnathan Ford of Unwed Sailor.

First off, as local bars go, Propaganda is actually quite a find. It’s laid back — couches in the back, good alcohol selection, friendly staff — but still has a fun motif. Faux Commie slogans line the walls and everything is red and black.

Nick Eberhardt of Noble Rocket

In addition, the sound quality is excellent — you could tell from the first note of local band Noble Rocket’s first song. It neither blew me out of the room nor got completely lost in the rafters.

OK, it’s no Bamboo Room, with its acoustic baffle system. Few bars in the US have that good a set-up, let alone South Florida. As your local pub goes, though, Propaganda’s got a good set-up.

And in a fairly competitive bar market in Lake Worth, that’s saying something. When you can very easily head right up the street to Little Munich or down to Brogues and Dave’s Last Resort (and its twin, Igoes), you have to have more than a little going for you.

Had the chance to listen to both Noble Rocket and Seattle’s Unwed Sailor, an instrumental combo who combined exploration with economy — a tight sound, but still interesting. Unwed Sailor’s Johnathan Ford has been to South Florida before: “I always get a little confused with all the beaches and lakes down here, but I’m sure we’re in Lake Worth tonight!”

Noble Rocket has a more direct knowledge of the area, of course, and these days seeing them is an inexpensive treat — Nick Eberhardt leads the sometimes trio, sometimes four piece with a tight, slightly country-based sound.

Ultra: Roni Size and Reprazent bring pure drum ‘n’ bass back

Singer Onallee with Roni Size in Reprazent's first US appearance in seven years.

Roni Size wanted Miami’s Ultra Music Festival to know what exactly it was listening to.

He pointed to the drum kit. “Just the drums! I just want the drums!

“You see, we don’t have no CDs, no backing tracks! This is real drum and bass!” Size said, drawing out the last three words that also define the kind of music that first made him and his group Reprazent stars during the 1990s.

Size reconvened Reprazent last year when he put out a deluxe edition of New Forms, the LP that won him the Mercury Music Prize in 1997. Back in 1997, Size was a massive part of the drum ‘n’ bass scene that also featured Goldie (who was also in attendance at Ultra), Squarepusher and A Guy Called Gerald.

Drum ‘n’ bass is characterized by a bass-heavy, fast sound that got its start in the rave scene in the United Kingdom. Size came from one of the sound’s biggest Meccas — Bristol.

And he proved Friday, in the band’s first U.S. appearance in seven years, that he and Reprazent still had it. Many of the original members are still in the band, including vocalist Onallee and bass player Si John.

With Onallee bringing powerful hooks to life, Size got the crowd hopping in a hot, sweaty cauldron of dance.

They all knew exactly what they were listening to.

Black-Eyed Peas back together with a Boom, a Boom and a Pow

Finally, a great shot of the Peas... hey! Move that camera!

Finally, the Peas are back in the same pod.

Over the last two years, you’ve seen various members of the Black Eyed Peas all over the place. Fergie performed her solo album The Dutchess and appeared in movies; Will.i.am got out the vote for President Obama, released a solo album and produced.

But in returning to the fold, all of the Peas — which also include rappers Apl.de.ap and Taboo — began working their music and style in a different way.

The best example is the band’s brand new single, “Boom Boom Pow”, an extremely danceable song that is nowhere near out of place at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, where the band debuted the song on stage Friday.

“‘Boom Boom Pow’ is a part of experiments I’ve been doing,” Will.i.am said in a news conference before their performance. “I wanted to make a song that was basically one whole verse, and in mid-song pull in an whole new beat, inspiring DJs to play the song the full way.”

It was a highlight of the band’s brief but well-received performance at the festival, the centerpiece of the Winter Music Conference — a week-long electronic music celebration that brings together some of the top DJs in the world.

“The DJ is the most important thing in music today,” Will.i.am said. “When we released ‘Boom Boom Pow’, with the straight version, the a capella version and more, we wanted to give DJs the tools to help ‘Boom Boom Pow’ reach all different kinds of areas.”

“The song is based in the kind of clubs where we know it will live,” Fergie added. “People need something that makes them feel good right now.”

“Boom Boom Pow” is the first salvo of the upcoming The E.N.D. The band members say the new album’s sound is more along the lines of electro, a high-energy sound that also pulls them away from the poppier elements of the Peas’ last two LPs.

“The sound kind of reminds me of what hip-hop was like in 1980,” Will.i.am said. “It’s celebrating the kind of sound of what is happening in the world.”