(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

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.

Bertis Downs is an old friend of mine; he's also R.E.M.'s manager and a Crooks and Liars LNMC fan. He sent me a cool, FUN video last week. The backstory is here. And the contest is for an autographed copy of Peter Clothier's fantastic new book, The Real Bush Diaries. I'll give 3 books away for the best list of R.E.M. covers-- in other words, your favorite R.E.M. songs performed by other artists. Entries to downwithtyranny@aol.com

(guest blogged by Howie)

(guest blogged by Howie Klein. He's been really doing a dynamite job on the LNMC.)

Today Talla 2XLC is one of the biggest international djs in the world. When I first met him in a small town near Frankfurt he was running an independent industrial music label, playing music at a dance club under a runway at the Frankfurt Airport-- I once spent a New Years Eve there-- and playing in a hard core electro band called BiGod 20 these guys! Listen to the first single we released by the band and then enter the Crooks & Liars Tuesday Night Industrial Contest. Just tell us what your favorite 5 industrial songs of all times are (and why). The best list wins a 4-DVD set of PUNKY BREWSTER (SEASON THREE)-- 22 episodes. Send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com/

Steve Earle has been a longtime Crooks & Liars fave and with Bush in the Middle East, who could resist the title track from his 2002 masterpiece, Jerusalem? Steve has been involved with socially conscious music since he was a teenager to young to play in bars, writing songs against aggression in Vietnam and against the death penalty. Despite his strong political messages, he's won two Grammy awards and believe me-- I've been on the committees that help pick the nominees-- strong political writing does not help songwriters. You can only imagine what went on when "John Walker's Blues" was discussed.

So I asked myself, driftglass, how do you feel when you cruise the cornucopial (Cornucopriapistic? Cornucopulatory? Because those just doesn't sound quite right.) plenty that the good people at Crooks and Liars lay out every single day?

Well...like I'm a guest at the biggest, throbbin'est party on the block. Something classy. With beverages laid out. Candy. Spices. Maybe tricolored pastas even.

And, lil' blogger, is there perhaps some kind of song that would capture that sensibility? Turns out, hey, there is!

Ween -- "(The Best Time At) Your Party"

Guest blogged by Driftglass [Howie Klein is on vacation].

Happy Halloween from everyone at Crooks and Liars and our Late Night Music Club. Roky Erickson is touring now, not an everyday occurrence. Try to see him live if you can; he is something else! He used to be leader of Austin's 13th Floor Elevators (the Texas Grateful Dead) but I first met him when he recorded an album, The Evil One released by my label in San Francisco. "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" is one of my favorite songs he ever wrote and a real rocked out tune for any night:

You have a favorite Halloween song?

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I love this Offspring song so much. Totally forget the video. Just keep the song in mind and write a treatment whose story line could make a Crooks & Liars or Down With Tyranny post. I'm looking for the kind of passion you feel in the beat.

What's in it for you? Glad you asked. SONY just sent us a beautiful box set (3 discs) celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's BORN TO RUN. The killer treatment wins the box set. What are we lookin' for? PASSION. Send your short essay to downwithtyranny@aol.com

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)
Last night some exceptionally great bands were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My two favorites were Patti Smith and R.E.M.

I've had a lot of favorite R.E.M. songs since I first got turned on to their music by my friend and fellow KUSF dj Denise Sullivan in 1982. But the first time I really listened to "Everybody Hurts" it was because someone came running into a meeting at Warner Bros, kind of hysterical, yelling that he was holding the best video he'd ever seen. He played it. I loved it too-- but not as much as I loved the song. I was just floored. I can never get enough of its power, intensity and shear humanity.

Take a look and take a listen and join everyone here at Crooks and Liars World Headquarters in congratulating R.E.M. on a well deserved honor-- and on a career that has brought so much beauty into a world that needs beauty so badly.

Tonight's contest is simple. Send us a paragraph about anything you want-- but using the titles of your 10 favorite R.E.M. songs in the body. Send the enties to downwithtyranny@aol.com and then keep your fingers crossed that you win the XL-R.E.M. hoodie and the DVD, When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the IRS Years.

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Jimi Hendrix was long gone by the time I became president of Reprise Records. Coincidentally, though, as a college concert chairman I had booked the Jimi Hendrix Experience for their first appearance in the U.S. The last time I ran into him was in a small seaside town outside of Essaouira, my favorite spot in Morocco, in 1969. Soon after that, I met another revolutionary artist who has changed the course of pop music: Patti Smith.

And last week I got to hear Patti's next album, TWELVE, a collection of a dozen covers that have meant a lot to her-- and to many of us. The album starts with a brilliant and sensual rendition of Jimi's "Are You Experienced?" (informed by lots of Beatles). Patti's album is amazing and I'll try to get an advance for Crooks and Liars.

Meanwhile, here's the original:

So tonight's contest: without having heard a note of it, review Patti Smith's new album. Send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com and if yours is the best review, we'll send you the mindblowing 15 CD boxset-- BOB DYLAN REVISITED, 15 classic albums by a master who influenced the work of both Patti and Jimi.