tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-290881902008-05-07T15:32:59.330-07:00Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-60663099774792957342008-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:002008-04-28T13:44:57.737-07:00

The Benign Comedy is going on an extended sabbatical. In the meantime, please visit my new blog, Museum Of Pop Archaeology. That blog will be my primary focus for awhile. You can subscribe to The Benign Comedy's RSS feed in case anything does get added here. Thanks for your support of TBC over the past year-plus.

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-18121759140393431142008-02-10T17:30:00.001-08:002008-02-10T23:34:46.505-08:00

(Scroll down to the end of this entry to see latest smart-ass quips.) 7:57pm - Good evening. By the way, if you want to know who the winners are, just hit one of the news sites. They've already updated all the winners. I get the West Coast delay. But I'm still going to pretend like I'm breaking all this news to you right now. I need the false empowerment 'cause I haven't started working out yet.

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-20387926946918599432008-02-09T19:25:00.001-08:002008-02-10T15:43:49.353-08:00

3:43pm - Patti Austin has twice called the White Stripes' album "Icky Thumb." 3:40pm - Against all odds, Tom from Slayer is there to pick up their award for Best Metal Recording. He's very nice. 3:35pm - First truly wrong award of the night: Chemical Brothers wins Best Dance Album, over LCD Soundsystem and Justice. 3:32pm - The Beastie Boys win Best Pop Instrumental Album, over people like

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-31753364042852847562008-01-29T22:33:00.000-08:002008-01-30T02:12:10.430-08:00

1. The Oshkosh B'Gosh bustier. 2. The Rev. Ted Haggard Home Abstinence Kit. 3. Shouldn't have suggested that eye liner makes you read better. 4. When she used pink nail polish on her Fisher-Price play figures to simulate them not wearing panties I probably should have said something. 5. Cheez Whiz + frozen Pillsbury biscuit dough do not a torte make. 6. I swear I thought that "House of the

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-52139936747303354882008-01-22T22:56:00.001-08:002008-01-23T00:35:14.614-08:00

(What's the Story) Morning Glory Oasis (Epic, 1995) Parklife Blur (Virgin, 1994) It was 1995. Oasis, they had this guy named Liam. He was a machine. He trained every day for 16 hours. Jump-roped, bag-punched, everything. He had a big chip on his shoulder. But everyone loved him, because he was so handsome and wan. And he used to make up poems before his fights. One of 'em went:Ding! Why, look

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-73061685074602459922008-01-18T01:35:00.000-08:002008-01-18T01:39:06.238-08:00

(1) Someday, some guy is gonna walk up to you all cocky and say this: "Yeah, London Calling was okay, but I think Cut The Crap is the Clash's unspoken, underrated masterpiece. You just gotta listen to it, man!" The guy who tells you this is a moron. Taze him. (2) If anyone tells you Johnny Cash was too depressing or that Bob Dylan sucked because they couldn't stand his voice, say nothing in

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-88026431988831162192008-01-16T01:27:00.001-08:002008-01-16T02:14:07.389-08:00

Distortion The Magnetic Fields (Nonesuch, 2008) The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs is my third favorite album of all time. Judging from how often it comes up in conversation without any provocation, it's apparently about that high on the lists of about two-fifths of everybody I have ever met in my life. It seems to be the only album of which the cliché "That album changed my life!" may be

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-68452478029801033462008-01-12T00:30:00.001-08:002008-01-14T00:47:30.728-08:00

Long Road Out Of Eden The Eagles (Eagles Recording Co., 2007) The Eagles were one jaundiced bunch of muddafuggas. There was something uncomfortable about how they clung to Old Western mythology and beat down New Western excess, when in truth they liked their fast machines as much as anyone and had their share of coked-out, half-forgotten nights on Sunset. They embodied something I call

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-88535505738747825902008-01-04T00:27:00.001-08:002008-01-05T23:32:37.223-08:00

Flirtin' With Disaster Molly Hatchet (Epic, 1979) Wild-Eyed Southern Boys .38 Special (A&M, 1981) And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band… --Patterson Hood, "Let There Be Rock" by Drive-By TruckersAnd I never got into Molly Hatchet until today, and when I did I replayed the title track to Flirtin' With Disaster three times in a

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-78787653879541853102008-01-02T01:18:00.001-08:002008-01-04T01:58:52.375-08:00

Gold ABBA (Polydor, 1993) The Christmas before the one just passed, my now-mother-in-law gave me a homemade ABBA dish towel. She found a sketch of ABBA online, traced it, and sewed it upon a plain white cloth with red thread. I'm not certain why. I am not particularly gaga about ABBA. I mean, I don't hate 'em. "Super Trouper" and "Knowing Me Knowing You" kick much röv. I think it's my

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-60079528376300592062008-01-01T00:46:00.000-08:002008-01-01T00:48:37.229-08:00

What do you do on New Year's Eve when you're 40 years old, married with a kid and another one on the way, and not willing to leave the house because (get this) you don't want to deal with the drivers? Set your media playback device on shuffle play for the first five songs you hear in 2008!You do this because you're kind of a putz.Here we go! And the first song of 2008 is...1. "Betcha By Golly Wow

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-12900070800888330352007-12-14T00:28:00.001-08:002008-02-10T23:50:48.615-08:00

First off, let me just assert that I don't get much of a jizz-spurt over complaining about the Grammys anymore. I haven't in years. The question of their relevance has long been answered: ain't much. Every time I do get riled up and put something to cyber-paper, I feel more and more like a grizzled old coot standing on the corner of 12th Street and Vine, rattling a saber festooned with tin cans,

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-91027529356753794452007-12-05T22:15:00.001-08:002007-12-05T22:22:07.707-08:00

So, you can tell I've slacked off some over the last few months, despite my thinking I had excellent reasons for it. If a new marriage, a new job, a new house and the latter stages of my wife's pregnancy aren't enough, then I don't know what you want from me. Prison time? Nevertheless, I still stand behind The Benign Comedy. Way behind it. Actually there's a column blocking my view of it. But I

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-86485819902133041962007-12-03T23:47:00.001-08:002007-12-04T00:19:19.444-08:00

Night Falls Over Kortedala Jens Lekman (Secretly Canadian, 2007) The greatest thing about indie music is the way Jens Lekman pronounces the word "father."He's Swedish, see. Although he seems very fluent in the English language, the Swedes don't have too many instances of the "th" combination in their language. The closest thing is the hard "d" sound, which they got plenty of. So Jens Lekman

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-88934739001096785352007-12-01T03:50:00.000-08:002007-12-01T03:52:38.552-08:00

So The Benign Comedy has slacked off something miserable. And let me tell you something: I'm miserable about that.I have a fantastic excuse, the best excuse this side of terminal illness and massive gambling debt: MY ENTIRE LIFE HAS CHANGED SINCE AUGUST. How can I be expected to write much more than a grocery list (which this, coincidentally, is) in these conditions? But although everything else

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-21820415355001278752007-09-30T23:31:00.001-07:002007-10-06T00:35:18.636-07:00

We Are The Pipettes The Pipettes (Cherrytree/Interscope, 2007) The problem with vocals-only groups is that once their identity is set, usually by an outside band of songwriters or producers or a meddlesome record label, it's almost impossible to shake it off and grow. Once a cap on growth is reached by a vocal group, they usually splinter apart, implode, or make a tidy living at Indian casinos

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-83647217987311476302007-09-26T23:56:00.001-07:002007-09-27T00:24:57.986-07:00

Outlandos D'Amour The Police (A&M, 1978) Reggatta De Blanc The Police (A&M, 1979) The predominant aesthetic creed of mine and my compatriots is predicated on two very simple maxims: (A) Devendra Banhart must never be allowed near the absinthe again, and (B) what Sting has done with his solo career should be viewed as the worst-case scenario for all singers considering leaving their bands

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-90575676134340432012007-08-05T13:42:00.000-07:002007-08-05T13:37:45.012-07:00

Cake Or Death Lee Hazlewood (Ever, 2007) This post was originally published on January 26, 2007. Lee Hazlewood passed away on August 4.Lee Hazlewood is 77 years old, but when he sings he still sounds like he did at 37 -- i.e., like he was 77. He has always sung like he was burdened, codgy, desperate to evict his hangover and chase the neighborhood brats from his yard. He'd get on a jag about

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-74753443020608910702007-08-01T23:06:00.001-07:002008-01-05T02:23:14.184-08:00

My Aim Is True Elvis Costello (Columbia, 1977) It amazes me how many folks want to turn Alison into either a tart or a corpse. Interpretations of the ad-hoc title song from Elvis Costello's debut album – particularly those interpretations to be found on The Internets – seem to exclude what I always heard was brave, if flustered, compassion. "Alison" is a bittersweet and sympathetic song, the

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-47636751113963809192007-07-29T01:25:00.001-07:002008-01-05T02:24:02.003-08:00

These are the songs I've been returning to again and again (or just one "again") during the course of this year, regardless of date of release. 'Cause I'm not a chronological bigot. 1. "Holy Chord," Dappled Cities The holy chord, it sounds like, is played on a high-strung mandolin. It's a major seventh chord, or perhaps the fifth chord on the scale, played with the root note on bottom. The singer

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-87711205622998327272007-07-25T00:24:00.001-07:002007-07-29T19:47:07.159-07:00

Minute By Minute The Doobie Brothers (Warner Bros., 1978) I guess I better address this whole yacht rock business. Yacht rock, if you're not a hip urban scenester, and by God why aren't you, was invented in the 70s, though it did not get an official name until 30 years later. I am pleased yacht rock finally has a name of its own, so when we fake our nostalgic feelings for it, we know what to

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-79083011277764953942007-07-23T23:37:00.001-07:002007-07-29T19:47:41.261-07:00

This Year's Model Elvis Costello (Columbia, 1978) "'Pump it Up'" is a song by Elvis Costello… The song discusses masturbation. It is frequently played at sporting events." – Wikipedia Have you ever read Lucky Jim, the comic novel by the late British author Kingsley Amis? You should! It's a sabotage of the British intelligentsia and artistic sector from within, a broadside against its

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-49334104685212901262007-07-16T00:06:00.000-07:002007-07-29T19:47:59.947-07:00

Close To You The Carpenters (A&M, 1970) As imparted to me on-the-job by my most excellent mentor and claims adjuster, Mr. Damon Brown of Point Blank Sound (and, lately, the Thurston County Department of Corrections, so you'd better take this to heed if you don't want the fees on that last parking ticket to increase):#1: They love the 80s. It doesn't matter if the lucky couple was born in the

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-86575419674742672992007-07-13T11:50:00.000-07:002007-07-29T19:48:23.800-07:00

Punch The Clock Elvis Costello & The Attractions (Columbia, 1983) It's a little embarrassing to admit this is the album that got me. Not that it's bad. It's not. I was just listening to Punch The Clock this afternoon and tapped my foot right along. The cars in front of me didn't appreciate that but I sure got a kick out of it. Rather, my mild anxiety is about why Punch The Clock sent me

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29088190.post-69271778538699900442007-07-12T00:36:00.000-07:002007-07-29T19:48:44.865-07:00

Living With War Neil Young (Reprise, 2006) (This piece was originally published in May 2006 on another site, as the final fourth of a 10,000-word piece about the mania surrounding this album at the time.) There's this movie called Cool Hand Luke. Paul Newman plays a convict, Luke Jackson, who's been sentenced to live on this work farm, whose other resident convicts includes Dragline, played

Paul Pearsonnoreply@blogger.com