Modest Mouse: “Dashboard” video

Quite possibly the coolest music video I’ve ever seen. 

The Real Mr. Indestructable

Rulon Gardner, former Olympic gold medalist wrestler (ie STUD), cheats death yet again.

CLICK HERE

One Man’s Ipod: Volume 2

This is the weekly Figurehead feature where you guys get to see what played on “shuffle” mode on my ipod during my run. As always, you get the TRUTH - embarrassing or not. For the most part, the music matched today’s weather - sunny and 60 in February. Only Prodigy seemed out of place today.

One Love by Bob Marley

Incommunicado by Jimmy Buffett

Dukes on Sunday by Jimmy Buffett

The View by Modest Mouse

Mahgeetah by My Morning Jacket

Cut Your Hair by Pavement

Breathe by Prodigy

Baby Girl by Will Hoge

A Look back at Volume 1

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Since this albums release I’ve listened to the samples over and over again. I’ve read all the reviews - some glowing / some scathing. So which way do I go with this one? Spend the downloads or skip it and keep letting Explosions in the Sky rock my world? There is something kinda creepy about the timing of this albums title and the recent hype around the Zodiac Killer movie (in case you don’t know, The Zodiac sent “cryptograms” to the San Fran police to decifer).

One thing is for sure. I like this song:

Springhall Convert

Tour of California: Levi Leipheimer goes wire to wire for the win

It’s over. After winning the prologue in San Francisco a week ago, Levi Leipheimer and The Discovery Team defended the lead all week for the win. That’s good news for American cycling fans this year with Floyd Landis on the shelf and Lance now sipping Shiner Bocks.

CSC’s Jens Voigt finished 2nd overall. Leipheimers teammate Jason McCartney was 3rd and in more good news for Americans CSC’s Bobby Julich looked strong finishing 4th.

Going forward it will be interesting to see if Levi rides in support of his teammate Ivan Basso in France or if Levi will be the team’s leader. Chances are that Basso is still the man, but’s great to see that American cycling still has a shot at an 8th straight Tour De France with Leipheimer and Julich.

More.

Arcade Fire play “Intervention” and “Keep the Car Running” on SNL - The Legend Begins

Here it is in case you missed it. I was blown away. Thus begins a legend I believe.

Intervention from Neon Bible

Keep the Car Running from Neon Bible

Tour of California Stage 5: Leipheimer and Voight finish 1 and 2 in time trial

Levi Leipheimer maintained his GC lead by holding off Jens Voight in yesterday’s individual time trial.

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Tour of California Stage 4: Bettini wins in photo finish, Levi still looks good in yellow

Olympic and World Champion Paolo Bettini won in a photo finish in stage 4. It made cycling history as it marked the first time that a World champion has ever won a race on US soil.

American Levi Leipheimer held onto the yellow jersey and leads CSC’s Jens Voight by 3 seconds in the general classification.

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Founding Fathers Friday: Pixies

Here they are on Letterman during their sold out reunion tour. Man, I’ve always had a crush on Kim Deal.

One to Grow on: “Into the White” (a bit more old school - and featuring Kim Deal).

Founding Fathers Friday Artists: The Cure, REM, The Smiths, Violent Femmes

Great Lake Swimmers: New album “Ongiara” released early

 

The new album was originally slated for a March 27th  release. It seems it’s been released a month early.

Track listing

1. Your Rocky Spine (3:36)
2. Backstage With The Modern Dancers (4:2
3. Catcher Song (4:11)
4. Changing Colours (4:44)
5. There Is A Light (5:06)
6. Put There By The Land (2:43)
7. I Am Part Of A Large Family (4:23)
8. Where In The World Are You (3:49)
9. Passenger Song (4:2
10. I Became Awake (5:53)

It’s available both on itunes and emusic.

Streaming of Your Rocky Spine is available at Aquarium Drunkard

Tour of California Stage Three: Jens Voight wins brutal stage, Levi is second and keeps the yellow

The familiar face of CSC’s Jens Voight crossed the line first in San Jose after a tough day in the saddle. The riders spread out over the course as they climbed the Category 1 Sierra Road leading into San Jose.

Leipheimer finished second and retained his leaders jersey.

Results

Just Remembered How Great This Song Is: The Cure - Push

Achtung! A new feature on The Figurehead: “Just remembered how great this song is”.

The Cure - Push - from The Head on the Door - Video from The Cure In Orange

Wonder if the boys from Bloc Party have ever listened to The Cure? (snicker)

Live Arcade Fire

 

Our friends at NPR All Songs Considered provided this performance from NYC’s Judson’s Memorial Church on on Feb.17. They perform a number of songs from the upcoming Neon Bible. Go get your fix…the link is temporary:

Arcade Fire LIVE

You can also check the bands MySpace page for Keep The Car Running.

Tour of California Stage 2: Haedo wins stage, Levi keeps his jersey

 CSC sprinter J.J. Haedo won yesterday’s bunch sprint following 3 circuits of downtown Sacramento. The riders covered 116 miles from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. Haedo finished comfortably ahead of Luca Paolini and Thor Hushovd.

The Governator awarded Levi Leipheimer his yellow jersey.

More Results

One Man’s Ipod

Have you ever wondered what the person next to you is listening to on their Ipod at the gym? Now you’ll have insight into at least one person’s personal playlist - mine. That’s right, The Figurehead will reveal what’s playing on his Ipod during his workouts. I’ll try to do this on Tuesdays.

I generally set my Ipod that holds about 450 songs on Shuffle while I run, unless I have something brand spanking new that I really want to listen to. I love setting that shuffle and pretending I’m listening to my own personal radio station. That’s one RAD radio station! I won’t cheat and lie to you about what played in order to maintain my “rep”. I’m gonna give it to you just as it happened - for better or worse.

Here’s what played today during my run (finally outside again as the weather has started to warm up):

Long Into the Evening by Great Lake Swimmers

Do It Again by Nada Surf

I Feel By The Sundays

Same Old Drag by Apples in Stereo

Ghosts of Jackson Square by Edwin McCain

Off The Record by My Morning Jacket

Wet Sand by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Heaven by Live

Angel, Won’t You Call Me? by The Decemberists

Told ya, I wasn’t going to lie.

Tour of California Stage One: Leipheimer still leads, Graeme Brown wins stage, Zabriskie crashes out

A major pile up spoiled Levi Leipheimer’s ride into his hometown of Santa Rosa yesterday, but he held onto his leaders jersey nevertheless. Ivan Basso paced Leipheimers day…not a bad pacesetter at all.
“What an honor to have Ivan Basso put the throttle down today… I know those roads out near Occidental, and he was ripping it up! I’m very honored and very proud to have him lead me into my hometown…”, said Leipheimer.

Graeme Brown of Rabobank won the bunch sprint to the finish by edging out T-Mobile’s Greg Henderson and Discovery’s Allen Hansen.

One of the tour favorites, and former Tour De France yellow jersey wearer, David Zabriskie, crashed out of the race with a wrist injury about 70 miles into the stage. X-rays were negative, but he did suffer a minor concussion.
“70 miles into the race (Dave Zabriskie) had a moderate speed accident and hit his head. He was a little bit foggy and decided it was best not to continue on, and he’s out of the race. This is one of the more difficult things about working in a race like this. In this situation if he has an intact neurological exam, you can continue to let him ride. It’s almost like a “stress” test when you get back on your bike. The decision was fairly straightforward when he got back on his bike. He had a mild concussion,” said the races chief medical officer.

More

Leipheimer wins Tour Of California prologue

Levi Leipheimer (USA), now of The Discovery Team, won the Tour of California prologue for the second straight year today by edging out relatively unknown Jason Donald (USA) of Team Slipstream.

Other notables: Fabian Cancellara (5th), George Hincapie (9th), Michael Rogers (12th), David Zabriskie (14th), Bobby Julich (22nd), Ivan Basso (23rd).

Complete Results: results

In case you care: XM and Sirius Merge

XM and Sirius satellite radio have announced that they will merge.

2007 Daytona 500: all that’s great about competition (and bonding)

 

I love sports - pretty much all of them. There are so many parallels at play in athletics and the art of living. Both can be beautiful, ugly, joyous, and agonizing. I don’t want to go much farther with this, but I mention it only to illuminate lesson’s learned through something like the 2007 Daytona 500.  Put some thought into the day that Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Dale Jr., and Jeff Gordon had. Each of them learned important life lessons that go beyond sports, whether they realize it or not.

My dad is a Nascar fan; not the sort that wears the tshirts and goes to races, but the sort who casually watches the races on tv on Sundays. I love sitting and quietly watching these races with him when I’m visiting my parents house on weekends. My little girl and wife were napping in the back bedroom, my mom was asleep in a chair in the living room and my dad, now 70, and I, at 32, watched a Southern tradition (a masterpiece at that) unfold before our eyes. It was a good day. I’m committing to being a full fledged Nascar fan this season.

Is it ok to love indie rock, poetry, UFC and Nascar??? If you’re THE FIGUREHEAD everything is ok.

Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!

Check out this awesome live concert footage from Nirvana’s DVD: Live! Tonight! Sold Out! No one! NO ONE, made pop songs sound more heart felt and dangerous than Kurt Cobain. Watch for yourself as one of the most mesmerizing front men in music history rocks out!

You can watch: Lithium, Breed, Drain You, and About a Girl.

Nirivana!