Music: This Week's New Releases

What a week. Sorry for the delay, I've been drinking in Key West!

Jenny Lewis- Acid Tongue. I will be listening to this one before I buy to make sure it is not like the last Rilo Kiley album which was bad bad bad.

TV On the Radio- Bad Science

Cold War Kids- Loyalty to Loyalty

Peter Bjorn and John- Seaside Rock

All of these artists previous albums were phenomenal, and I can not wait to hear these. Hopefully I can pick up one or two of these this weekend.

Music: This Week's New Releases

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Fujiya & Miyagi - Lightbulbs
James - Hey Ma
Simian Mobile Disco - FABRICLIVE 41

Yes, that's James, the same band that had a hit with Laid, which is a karaoke favorite of mine. Fortunately I know all of the words to that song, because occasionally the karaoke lyrics are clean and they replace, "She only cums when she's on top," to something less racey. But I mean, come on, everyone loves orgasms!

The pick of the week is Live at KEXP Volume 4. This year's edition has a solid lineup that includes !!!, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Yeasayer, and more.
It's available at Seattle area indie record stores, PCC, and through that insound link above. Hurry, it's only available through the end of the year.

MMA: Affliction Cancels October Show

Affliction's second show was scheduled for October 11 in Las Vegas. Last week the company informed the Nevada State Athletic Commission that the show was canceled, and then they listed a new date on their website for January 17, 2009 in Anaheim.

UFC president Dana White said at the press conference that announced the new Randy Couture contract that Affliction would be out of business in January. The way that things are looking now you could call him Nostradamus.

Affliction only exists as an MMA company because they thought that they could book the Randy Couture - Fedor Emelianenko match that the UFC was not able to put together when Fedor turned down a huge money offer(He was offered $2.5 million per fight with a $2.5 million win bonus).
With Couture back in the UFC fold, Affliction has no potential big money fight. January's show should do OK business just because it's theoretically enough time to have Fedor fight on the show(he was off of the October show because he broke his hand when he beat the hell out of Tim Sylvia on the debut show).

Though without TV to support the pay per view, no one is going to know about the show or anything about the people that are on it. It's a show for the MMA diehards who want to see Fedor in action regardless of his opponent.

If the year 2008 has taught us anything about the North American MMA market it's that UFC is the brand name, and people will buy the brand name. The last rating for the prime time EliteXC show on CBS showed that very few people will watch a show just because it is an MMA event, and that show was on free tv.

Music: This Week's New Releases

Calexico: Carried to Dust
Michael Franti and Spearhead: All Rebel Rockers
Mogwai: Batcat(EP)
Okervil River: The Stand Ins

For the vinyl junkies, Tortoise finally releases Standards on vinyl.
Also, Devotchka have made their album How It Ends available on limited edition red vinyl through their website.

The most interesting release this week is probably Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 US Presidents. It's 3 CDs with each song covering a US president. It includes members of Cake, Califone, Low, Red House Painters, Smog, Xiu Xiu, Charalambides, Wooden Wand and more.

If there is a young child in your life, you should probably know that Kimya Dawson has a children's album coming out this week called Alphabutt. I will be purchasing that one as a gift for a 3 year old.

MMA: UFC 88 Results, Rashad Evans is King

Last night's UFC 88 was a very good pay per view. There were no match of the year candidates on the show, but there were also no boring matches on the broadcast.

The main event saw Rashad Evans become a star when he threw an overhand right haymaker that knocked Chuck Liddell the fuck out! He was unconscious before he hit the ground. Ref Herb Dean did a great job of seeing that and jumping in for the stop before Evans could land any additional shots. This was such a spectacular knockout that I leaped out of my chair and stood there with one hand over my mouth for a couple of minutes in stunned silence.

The replays showed Chuck's jaw move first and then his neck and head followed. He fell like a ton of bricks, and remained out cold on the mat. This was one of the most spectacular knockouts in MMA history. Between this and the fight where Chuck was knocked out by Rampage all I have to say is: When he gets knocked out, it happens in dramatic fashion. You will see this knockout highlight over and over again for an eternity, and it will always be part of Rashad Evans' highlight reel.

Rashad Evans' next fight has already been announced. He will take on UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin on December 27th in Las Vegas.

In the co main event Rich Franklin looked good fighting at 205 lbs. in beating Matt(don't call me Mark)Hamill. Franklin apparently came into the fight with a cut next to his eye, and it was opened up early. In the second round the ref briefly stopped the fight to have the doctor check the cut, and the doctor said it was fine. In the third round Franklin ended it with a vicious body kick that caused Hamill to grab his ribs and crumple in a heap.

The match last night that told the best story was Jason MacDonald vs Jason Lambert. At the end of the first round Jason Lambert locked in a guillotine choke. I mean, it was locked in deep! MacDonald's head was turning red and he was throwing punches to Lambert's head and body, and was able to hold on for the last 10 seconds of the round while in a deep deep choke.

The second round saw MacDonald take down Lambert, get his back, and then after almost being choked out in the previous round he choked out Lambert! It was awesome. In the post match interview he told Joe Rogan that the guillotine in the first round was really deep but he could see the clock on the scoreboard, and he knew that he could hold his breathe for that long.
I loved this match!

Top to bottom this was a very solid show. I want to thank King Cobra in Seattle for showing the pay per view last night. I will keep going back there for UFC events as long as they have them. They had several projection screens set up for our viewing pleasure. They also mix their drinks strong, and the sweet potato fries are excellent. They didn't even charge a cover last night!

Music: Man Plus Remix Album FOR FREE!!!

The fine folks over at Man Plus headquarters have contacted me, and they have asked that I share their remix EP with the fine readers at Where the Silence Is.

It's a zip fileof the remix version of five songs from the album The Hungarian Suicide Songbook. Did I mention that it's free?!?!

Seriously, download this, and then go see Man Plus at one of their upcoming Seattle dates:

9/12 - Britney Spears Cover night @ Mars Bar
9/13 - KEXP Midday Dance Party @ Nectar
10/4 - Reverb in Ballard
10/31 - Halloween Show(!) at the Comet

MMA: UFC 88 Preview!

It seems that a lot of people have forgotten about tomorrow's UFC pay per view after the big news this week of the UFC return of Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.

The top two fights on UFC 88 are very solid and exciting matchups in the main event of Chuck Liddell vs Rashad Evans and Rich Franklin vs Matt (Don't call me Mark) Hamill.

Liddell is one of the top draws in MMA history, and I have never seen a boring fight with him involved. He is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He has knockout power, and he has that killer instinct that makes all of his fights exciting. If he sees that he has staggered his opponent then he will rush in and try to finish the fight.

Rashad Evans won The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 as a heavyweight. He is unbeaten in his career, but he has never fought anyone of the caliber of Chuck Liddell. I think that Chuck will be victorious by knockout, but this fight is not going to be a cake walk.

Whoever is victorious in the main event will probably get the next shot at Forrest Griffin's Light Heavyweight title at the end of this year or early next year.
Earlier this week Dana White stated that he thinks that November's Randy Couture-Brock Lesner fight will top the one million buys mark on pay per view. I think that a Forrest Griffin-Chuck Liddell fight for the title will be the biggest fight in MMA history.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Rick Franklin makes his debut at Light Heavyweight on this show as he squares off against the much more inexperienced Matt Hamill. Hamill is deaf, so the referee in his fights always has to be ready to jump in to stop him at the end of each round as he can't hear the buzzer. That's always an exciting aspect to his fights, but so far he hasn't landed any big shots after the round has ended. It will be interesting to see what Rich Franklin looks like fighting at 205(Middle weights fight at 185 pounds), but I expect him to finish Hamill and look great doing it.

This should be a really fun show. If you are in Seattle tomorrow, feel free to join me at King Cobra on Capitol Hill to watch the fights. I can not recommend the sweet potato fries there enough!