I don't think the Pentagon was really trying to develop a gay bomb. I think it was just a marketing ploy to sell more Erasure and Madonna records. Or maybe you have a diffferent theory? Tonight's lnmc contest is to find the 5 gayest songs ever recorded. Here's one that strikes me as... pretty gay:

Send your list of 5 really gay songs to downwithtyranny@aol.com and win a musical package that transcends sexuality (although... admitedly, if you have any gay friends on your Xmas list...) The prize: a COLOR ME BARBRA dvd (including fabulous bonus poster!) and a rare-- never sold-- promo CD for OUTFEST, the 19th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival which has 15 songs by a wide range of artists from Nick Cave, Stevie Nicks, Book of Love and Enya to Ennio Morricone, Depeche Mode and New Order.Congratulations to James for winning the Pearlman/Sony Rock On contest. Thanks for being part of the LNMC Community!

John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) was one of the great bluesmen of our times and his impact on rock'n'roll was immense. (His songs were covered by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, The Doors, The Animals and doznes of other artists.) He grew up in Mississippi ran off to Memphis and then Detroit as a teenager, got a job at a Ford Motors plant and was past 30 when he started recording. He was an early inductee into the Rock'n'roll Hall of Fame and the year before he died he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. "Dimples" is typical of his style and today's LNMC special.

In the late 90s, Arkarna's debut album Fresh Meat was a dance club smash in the U.K. and made some alternative headway in the U.S., particularly with House on Fire. The followup, The Family Album, didn't get a proper release in America and it's kind of a cult collectible now. There are plenty of good songs on it but "Nomoni" just lends itself very well to a LNMC clip.

A couple days ago a buddy played me It Ain't Over 'til It's Over by Lenny Kravitz, who we were thinking of inviting to be part of the LNMC anniversary party. Lenny's song is really good but I mentioned that I thought he must have been listening to Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson when he was growing up. (It is definitely not the Hendrix side of Lenny.)

Anyway, I had to play some Smokey who, when I was growing up was the creative genius behind the Motown hit machine, not just as lead singer of the Miracles but also as a songwriter and producer for the Temptations, Four Tops, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. And his songs have never stopped being covered, in every genre, like this awesome ska version of Tears of a Clown by The Beat. Of course, here's the all-time classic:

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Easy contest tonight. Just weave these two random songs together into a little news story-- could be about anything; use your imagination-- and you could win a 2-CD set of the ESSENTIAL GEORGE JONES. The songs are "Windy" by The Association and "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals. Send your entry-- not too long-- to downwithtyranny@aol.com

LNMC story of the night: I went to see John Hammond play at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village in the middle 60s and he had this amazing guitar player, Jimmy James, who played guitar with his teeth. After the show I went over and asked him to come play at my school and he said he would love to but "these fellas," pointing to some Animals, who he introduced me to, were taking him to London to be in their band. He didn't stay in their band long and he didn't keep that Jimmy James name long either. He started his own band and when he returned to America, he did come and play my school, immediately.

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I mentioned before that I spent some time in 1977 touring England with the Clash and that that was how I became a Specials fan. Well, the Clash also introduced me to Generation X, Billy Idol's old band. The guitar player, Tony James, was Mick Jones' best friend and he used to come around a lot. It was obvious Billy wanted to break free of the confines of the tiny punk scene, where people didn't quite take him seriously anyway, and become a pop star, which sort of happened later. But Tony and the guys made him sing some pretty cool songs while he was still in Gen X.

Years later, a friend and I turned Sammy Hagar on to Patti Smith and he covered "Free Money." This was post-Montrose and pre-Van Halen and Sammy was happy for the attention he got from Patti fans all over the world. He asked me for another suggestion and I sent him a tape of "Wild Youth" by Gen X. He called me up a few days later and said he couldn't do it because it sounded too anti-Semitic. Isn't it cool for someone from Fontana to be so... sensitive?

No prize tonight but I do have a question. What do you like better-- the Gen X song or the Patti song (at the link)? Or something by Sammy?

And congrats go to C&Ler Jackie for winning the George Jones CD set.  Thanks for being part of our LNMC community.

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Last night Morrissey was David Letterman's guest on The Late Show. Morrissey's been touring behind his latest solo release, Ringleader of the Tormentors, but the LNMC decided to go way back and dig up a Smiths fave from Morrissey's early days as a galvanizing singer, songwriter and performer.

UPDATE: Looks like the video Howie had was removed, so enjoy this Smiths tune instead...

So a little contest tonight for Morrissey's legion of Crooks & Liars fans? Half a dozen simple questions about his songs. Just send the answers to and win something special to listen to that is somewhat Morrissey-related that can't be purchased in a store (a surprise).

1- What happens if a doubledecker bus crashes into us?

2- What is meat?

3- In what song does Moz claim to be the sun and the earth along with a need to be loved "just like anybody else does?"

4- Not having a stitch to wear keeps Morrissey from what?

5- Which Morrissey video has visual cues to Lord Byron, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, James Dean and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out?" 6- Who was Hector?

And, by the way, congratulations to Craig Burney for winning the Armageddon Dildos contest last week

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Chances are if you've seen a recent picture of me, you've seen a Building A Better Spaceship hoodie. I have several. I don't wear them when the temperature gets above 90-- unless I'm worried about being forced into an air-conditioned enclosure. Aside from really nice hoodies, this South Bay-based L.A. band also makes some really good music. I've been listening to their demos and seeing them play live shows for a couple years.

And today I realized that they'd probably have something shareable via YouTube. They do-- "This Time:"

And tonight's contest will take some sleuthing, and looking in the right place. I have to admit, it's a hard one. But I've come up with a great prize: a boxset called LEGENDS OF COUNTRY-- CLASSIC HITS OF THE '50's, '60's & '70's. (There are songs by Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, and lots more... 57 songs including 49 #1 hits.)

So just tell me the relationship between Building A Better Space Ship and the Bush compound in Crawford. In the explanation I'm looking for two words-- a 3 letter word and a four letter word. Good luck-- and send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com

A few nights ago, we gave away a Sire boxset and all you had to do was name your 3 favorite Rough Trade songs. I thought LNMC members might be interested in knowing which artists came up the most frequently in the approximately 250 entries: Arcade Fire, The Smiths, Libertines, The Strokes, Cocteau Twins, Soft Cell, Delta 5, The Decemberists, Belle & Sebastian, Stiff Little Fingers, Sufjan Stevens, Gang of 4, Kleenex, James Blood Ulmer, Pere Ubu, Cabaret Voltaire, Young Marble Giants, The Fall, Scritti Politti, Antony & the Johnsons, Swell Maps, Sebadoh, and Ian Dury. All good stuff.

The winner was Eric with Galaxie 500, Delta 5 and Jarvis. Congratulations, Eric.

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Kurt is an LNMC contest winner from Vancouver (WA) who just turned me on to a great new band from the U.K., The Brakes. And although they caused some stir with a song bashing a discredited American political figure and for their anti-war "Porcupine or Pineapple," it's really their music that is making them the hottest commodity in the U.K. music scene.

Here's the Rough Trade video for the U.K. hit "All Night Disco Party."

CONTEST: This isn't the first time Rough Trade has found an underground band and helped make them international stars. Send us a list of your 3 favorite Rough Trade-released hit songs (by 3 different artists). The coolest list gets its creator a cool Sire Records box set (3 CDs plus a DVD), JUST SAY SIRE: THE SIRE RECORDS STORY. Send your list to downwithtyranny@aol.com.

pic from Peter Case

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Tonight's LNMC song is a Crooks & Liars exclusive, a brand new song, not even mastered yet, by Peter Case. It will be released on his next album later in the year. This song, "Underneath The Stars" was written after visits to a local park in Santa Monica. The song just tells the story of what was happening there. It's about the plight of "discarded people," older homeless people, not drug addicts or alcoholics, but just people who've gone over the edge of life for various other reasons.

Download | play MP4

Peter told us that he's felt concerned about the lives of homeless people after he himself lived without a home in San Francisco for a couple of years in the early 70s. "I climbed out of it, because I was young and strong. Some can't, due to age and other factors." The other voice on the song is Carlos Guitarlos, an incredibly talented musician and a former homeless person who gained some fame after playing with Tom Waits in Swordfishtrombones. This is one of my favorite Peter Case songs in years.