Memento: Winterlings’ Autumn Harvest

Posted in Features, Mementos with tags on 09/23/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

The Winterlings – a self-described “nocturnal alternative-folk band” – recently reached out to the Bad Penny with some thought-provoking pictures that warrant another installment in our ongoing “Memento” series. And with the fall having just arrived and Halloween around the corner, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Continue reading

Bad Penny Exclusive Premiere: TV Buddhas’ Third Vlog

Posted in Exclusives, Features, Videos with tags on 09/21/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Bad shows are a dime a dozen. But it doesn’t get much worse than TV Buddhas’ recent gig-that-wasn’t in New Orleans: When they showed up, the venue didn’t even know a concert was scheduled. Watch all the gory details about that incident and beyond in the third installment of the Israeli band’s tour vlog, which is premiering exclusively on the Bad Penny. Continue reading

Bad Penny Recipe: Neil Hamburger Soup

Posted in Features, Recipes with tags on 09/21/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

After Neil Hamburger’s horrendous reception at the Reading Festival last week – tossed bottles, vicious chants, etc. – he probably wants someone to warm him up with a bowl of soup. Here’s a suggested comfort-food recipe for the perpetually embattled comedian. Continue reading

Great Debate: TV Buddhas On Supermarket Lunches Vs. Eating Out

Posted in Features, Great Debate, Interviews with tags on 09/20/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

For the first installment in a new Bad Penny feature, “Great Debate,” Israel’s TV Buddhas conduct an intra-band, intra-family discussion about the merits of eating at the local supermarket – or taking the more extravagant route: eating at an actual restaurant.

Which place causes one Buddha to feel like he’s a balloon? Who loathes pizza? And what do at least two of them agree truly is yummy? Read on and find out in this endearing contribution straight from the band. Continue reading

Cover Me: Mark Bacino’s Queens English

Posted in Cover Me, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on 09/20/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

In the latest installment of “Cover Me,” power-pop prince Mark Bacino re-envisions his latest album, Queens English (DreamCrush/ Redeye), which dropped earlier this summer on Amazon and iTunes. In addition to granting the Bad Penny a downloadable MP3 (scroll to the bottom of the post), he wonders what the songs would sound like if they were performed by Steve Earle, Jeff Tweedy, even Archie & Edith Bunker – and seals it all with a Kiss. Continue reading

Bad Penny Exclusive Song Premiere: Cassorla’s ‘My Tree’

Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, MP3s with tags on 09/18/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Cassorla – an indie-rock band with jazz and soul tendencies – should probably be named “Cassor-pa-ny-la”: They call Los Angeles home these days but were born in North Philadelphia, and dwelled for a spell in Bed-Stuy and Brooklyn in between. Continue reading

Cover Me: Cassorla’s Songs Of Hair, Trees, Portraits, Shouts And Alphabets EP

Posted in Cover Me, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on 09/18/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

When’s the last time you heard an indie-rock band – or any rock band … or, hell, any band at all – pine for the day when D’Angelo would cover one of its songs? Leave it to Los Angeles’ unpredictable and imaginative troupe Cassorla to make such a wish. Continue reading

Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo In 2002: ‘I Think I Had A Falling Out With The Fans’

Posted in Interviews with tags , , on 09/17/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

“I still get the feeling that everyone’s pissed off and frustrated with us because we don’t sound like we did in 1993,” Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo told me on April 13, 2002. Going through one of the most tumultuous periods of its career, the bandmembers – who had recently fired their manager, and were bucking their PR and A&R reps at Geffen – had just “reclaimed control of ours lives,” in the words of Cuomo. Continue reading

Weezer’s Brian Bell Was ‘Overwhelmed’ By Maladroit Material

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 09/17/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

In light of Weezer’s new album, Hurley, plopping earlier this week, here’s a look back at a Maladroit-era interview with guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner. Previously unavailable online, it was conducted in February 2002. Continue reading

Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan And Laura Ballance Open Up About Shutting Up, Running Merge And More

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 09/15/2010 by Kurt Orzeck

Keeping the Superchunk momentum going after yesterday’s release of Majesty Shredding, here’s another vintage interview previously unavailable online. This one was conducted about nine years ago and primarily revolves around their penultimate record, Here’s to Shutting Up. Continue reading