In the last 48 hrs. good teams like Portugal, Mexico, and Brazil exited the World Cup. And let's not forget that Belgium is ranked #9, despite having a "meh" tournament so far. So, what bothers me is not the U.S. losing, but they way they froze up and made some truly awful plays tonight. Heavy sigh.

Graham Platner should fall into a hole and never be heard from again. And shame on people who've supported him. Just because Platner's economic policies are good, that doesn't excuse his being a colossal piece of shit.

I don’t understand all the FIFA rules, but I believe our loss to Belgium today means we are required to adopt their street design standards

Awesome 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Buy music. Hear lovely guest artist overdubs and remixes. Support LBGTQ+ youth. Available on Bandcamp.

Unpopular opinion, because I know living in DC is "cool" and living in Virginia is "not cool". But I'm glad I don't live in the District right now, with the ugly, invasive police state being imposed on it by the federal government. DC needs statehood more than ever. Free the Douglass Commonwealth.

I'm listening to Leonard Cohen's "Songs of Love & Hate" album, and never realized how much the Minutemen's "Cohesion" sounds exactly like an instrumental version of "Love Calls You By Your Name". Which makes me wonder what musical tradition Cohen stole it from. Flamenco maybe?

If you watch the Obama Library, the World Cup, and the Knicks parade this afternoon -- and nothing else -- you can actually see the America we're supposed to be at age 250

MoP's is reissuing Pitchblende's 1993 debut album, Kill Atom Smasher. Remastered by TJ Lipple. The LP includes original art + a full-color, two-sided insert with photos and liner notes. The vinyl will be translucent-blue. Pre-order a limited-run copy today! pitchblendedc.bandcamp.com/album/kill-a...

I'm not a basketball fan, let alone a knicks fan, but I love this "phalanx of women with blue hair playing drums" energy so much. Hey, algorithm: Can I get more of this in my monitor?

Remember this scene the next time a corporate reporter tries to insist that a rural diner full of white men in their 60s is somehow a more authentically "American" place, somehow more representative of who we are as a nation.

New music alert! Two Thirds Loco is an electronic/jazz guitar duo from Alexandria whose five-song album is now available on twothirdsloco.bandcamp.com. Have a listen! Means of Production 007... they got the lucky James Bond number.

Backrooms is the the most unsettling film I've seen in a while. Lynch + Cronenberg + Blair Witch + The Shining + Being John Malkovich. It was a matter of time before someone made a movie that looked like one big nightmarish AI hallucination, and that person is 20 years old. Original and terrifying.

“The world is not divided into countries...The difference between you and the US government is bigger than the difference between you and me. The difference between me and Iran's government is bigger than the difference between me and you. Our governments are very much the same.” RIP Marjane Satrapi

Irish satire site had a savage take on it

Occurred to me last night that Get Him to the Greek (2011) is like The Odyssey. Even the title suggests a Homerian epic. But instead of a war hero trying to get home, it's a drug-addled has-been rock star trying to get to back the theater where he did his famous live concert 10 years earlier.

Is your teen texting about Krautrock??? Know the slang: • DTF = Damo's the funkiest • NGL = Neu! goes loud • OMG = Oooooh motorik grooves! • FFS = Faust’s fucking stupendous • TMI = Tago Mago's incredible • TGIF = These Germans is freaky • CHEUGY = Can has excellent unbelievable grooves

In January 2029, I will volunteer to help scrape every last vestige of trumplandia from DC's built environment and set the city back to the way it was. The U.S. needs a Marshall Plan to restore America's institutions, regain public trust, and heal our many physical and emotional scars.

Morals, ideals, awareness, progress Let yourself be heard

Real life example of a 12th century animal fable #leopardsatemyface #Politics #News

If you haven't read Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation" and "America", both written in the 1980s, I recommend you do. His explanations of hyperreality and postmodernism were scarily prescient. We live in the world he foresaw 40+ years ago; no one knows what's real or not real anymore.

New album out today on Means of Production, for Bandcamp Friday. It’s Walk Talk & Audio by Cofferdam. Give it a listen!

Czonka: this Friday night at Galactic Panther art gallery in old town Alexandria. Just a few blocks from King St Metro. With two very good bands I’m looking forward to seeing.

Ebo Taylor, 1936-2026 youtu.be/z54HkbHg8Ec

It’s officially out! The Electric Grandmother’s first vinyl LP is now available at electricgrandmother.bandcamp.com/album/do-you.... Order a copy today and I will personally mail it to you. Or catch them at Pie Shop on Saturday, February 21 and buy one there. It’s super-fun and catchy—trust me.

I’m delighted to announce that Means of Production’s next release comes out on vinyl on February 1st: The Electric Grandmother’s “Do You Want Sitcom-Core, Or Do You Want the Truth?” It’s a collection of 18 of their top bangers, including a new tune, “Jurassic Park for Sharks”. Pre-order the LP now!

Every January 9, I think about this song, by one of the most criminally unheralded post-punk bands ever: Dog Faced Hermans, from Scotland. Busy drums, rumbling bass, dissonant squalls of guitar, and the lead instruments are trumpet and viola. Everything about it is perfect. youtu.be/wPPuDfZVKqQ

After the holiday onslaught is over, come see Czonka on Sat. Jan 3 at Quarry House in Silver Spring (w/ Cash on the Nail & Fashion Crime; we're on first), or the next day at 6 pm, Sun. Jan 4, at Smash in Adams Morgan (w/ Neon Grlz). Our pal Pete Duvall will join us on guitar for 3 songs, both shows.

The only xmas song I fully support:

50 years ago today, one of the most tragic shipwrecks in U.S. history took place in eastern Lake Superior. I heard this song a lot when I was a kid and listened intently to the horror in the words. It still gives me chills today. youtu.be/FuzTkGyxkYI?...

Two things. Thing 1: Tone, Czonka, and Oms tomorrow night Sat 11/1 at Galactic Panther, Alexandria. Thing 2: Means of Production is releasing Electric Grandmother's first vinyl LP early next year! 18 songs! Do you find them offensive? TOO BAD. Their songs are catchier than any other DC band. Fact.

Didn't get tickets for Shudder to Think in DC this Friday night? Come see this instead at Comet Ping Pong: Czonka and Minibeast, featuring Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma. Czonka will have guest guitarist Pete Duvall on a couple of songs. @minibeastband.bsky.social; czonka.bandcamp.com

I've added all of Pitchblende's recorded output to Means of Production's Bandcamp page. Please check it out! Every song we recorded is there, except for a few songs for which I don't have a digital version to upload. pitchblendedc.bandcamp.com/music

Mind-blowing that albums like Fables of the Reconstruction, Atomizer, Psychocandy, Head on the Door, Rites of Spring, and New Day Rising are all 40 years old. I wonder if kids today look at this music as being quaint, like we looked at Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Perry Como, and other acts from 1945.

I'll watch and enjoy most any music documentary, but the DEVO doc is especially good. Its thesis is that DEVO was the most misunderstood band in the world, because although they dressed in silly, attention-getting outfits, their critique of a world gone mad was dead serious. More relevant than ever.

I saw a sign for a new restaurant on Wisconsin Ave yesterday: "Coming Soon: DELHI BELLY". Um, do they not realize that "Delhi Belly" is a fun way of describing diarrhea? That's like opening a Mexican restaurant and calling it "Montezuma's Revenge".

Pretty excited about this one. Czonka's next show is Friday 24 October at Comet with Minibeast, featuring Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma. They kind of sound like PiL if they were from New England instead of England. youtu.be/Br-wid75zS4?...

I saw Pulp at Anthem last night and am happy to report that Jarvis Cocker's slow transformation into Charles Nelson Reilly is now complete. (It was an entertaining show, but the resemblance is uncanny.)

I love Galactic Panther, a cool little gallery and performance space in Old Town Alexandria near King St Metro. But it's funny that the ticket link describes Tone as "emerging" when they've existed for 35 years. In fact, my old band, Pitchblende, first played with Tone at 15 Minutes in DC in 1991.

On Saturday, August 16, my band is playing at Comet Ping Pong in DC with the most excellent Shadow Riot and Hammer No More the Fingers. Our second LP will be available. Come for the pizza, stay for the tunes!

“I’m once again asking you to support local bands, including Czonka and Right Chipper, who play this Sunday night at Galaxy Hut. Now, I’m more of a Dylan, Baez, and Guthrie (Woody not Arlo) fan. I don’t get math-rock, kraut-rock, snout-rock, or whatever. But Coldplay can’t have all the fans.”

“Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself die // But I know one thing that never dies: the judgment of a dead man’s life // he is truly wise who has traveled far and knows the ways of the world.” -from The Hávamál, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking Age

NEXT CZONKA SHOW ARLINGTON VIRGINIA SUNDAY JULY 20 TATER TOTS & BEER PLUS RIGHT CHIPPER IS SICK

Had to go into the office today, and didn’t feel like fighting insane traffic and tropical storms on the way home, so I decided to stop and have a grilled cheese with pickles, a mountain of tots, and a strawberry-pineapple wheat beer instead. Viva Galaxy Hut.

Hello. My band Czonka is playing a show tomorrow night (Sat 6/28) at Pie Shop in Northeast DC. We go on first at 8. If you haven’t heard Czonka, we’re like Flight of the Conchords, except we’re not from New Zealand and our music isn’t the slightest bit funny. New album: czonka.bandcamp.com

SURPRISE “The Geography of Nowhere” by Czonka Digital album out today. Vinyl shipping in August. czonka.bandcamp.com/album/the-ge...

I never realized how dark the lyrics of the Marseillaise were until today. Thus always to tyrants. youtu.be/7MQ-SC9bmp4?...

Feeling confident