Is it really the end of March already? Seriously?
Well, the one good thing about another month ending is that the first Wednesday of the next month is coming up soon, and that means it's time for The Rumble. The next one is this coming Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at Harlot and will feature guest DJ Omar of Popscene plus free vodka Red Bulls from 8-9:30. RSVP here for free admission, or click the cassette image.

Today's "480 Minutes" show will feature new songs from The Breeders (Dayton, OH), The Wombats (1st US release, Liverpool, UK), Tapes 'n Tapes (Minneapolis, MN), The Black Keys (Akron, OH), The Black Box Rebellion (Brussels, Belgium), R.E.M. (Athens, GA), Finest Dearest (San Francisco, CA), Doctors & Dealers (Stockholm, Sweden), Foals (Oxford, UK), Mono Taxi (London, UK), Cut Copy (Melbourne, Australia), Eric Avery (of Jane's Addiction, Los Angeles, CA), Moby (New York, NY), Neva Dinova (Omaha, NE), The Parlor Mob (NJ), plus Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (UK) and The Raconteurs (Detroit, MI).

By the way, the new R.E.M. album does not suck. In fact, it's really quite good. Many echoes of and nods to their glory days (which for me ended in 1992 with Automatic For the People, and my favorite R.E.M. albums remain Reckoning and Murmur), both musically and lyrically (the words "end of the world" are featured prominantly and repeatedly in the track "I'm Gonna DJ," while Michael Stipe sings something about "feel gravity's pull" in "Sing For The Sumbarine"), yet somehow it doesn't sound like R.E.M. during the Reagan years. I can see some folks, the ones who don't listen closely enough, thinking that R.E.M. is simply returning to safe ground it has already covered. To my ears it's all too urgent and rocking and raw to charge them with such a crime -- on most of the songs it's possible they were actually recorded live, with the band in the same room together, without massive overdubs.

I can't believe I may soon (after several more listens, of course) be able say I love an R.E.M. album again. It's nice that the chance exists.

Please tune in to "480 Minutes" today and every Friday. The show runs live from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, the is rebroadcast starting at 7p.m., then twice more on Saturday. On Saturday night at midnight we return to regular BAGeL Radio programming.

Reach out and e-touch me during the show via:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

or send an instant message directly through the BAGeL Radio site on the bottom right of the window where is says "click here to chat."

Recent photos:

nothing that great this week

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

The Rumble @ Harlot 4/2 featuring guest DJ Omar of Popscene RSVP here for free admission

Ministry @ The Fillmore 4/1 & 4/2
Cribs @ Popscene 4/3

# Oranger/ Parker Brothers/ Blank Stares/ B'Cups @ 12 Galaxies 4/4

Ministry @ The Fillmore 4/1 & 4/2
French Miami/ The New Centuries/ The Special Goodbye @ The Elbo Room 4/2
Cribs @ Popscene 4/3
Birds & Batteries/ Telegraph Canyon/ Social Studies@ Cafe du Nord 4/3
Light FM/ Ted from Music Lovers/ AM Magic @ The Hotel Utah 4/6
* Les Sans Culottes/ The Cuban Cowboys/ The Gun & Doll Show @ Cafe du Nord 4/8
Cult of Sue Todd/ Minmae/ Chase Frank @ The Hemlock Tavern 4/10 �
Enon @ Bottom of the Hill 4/13

BAGeL Radio Presents... buy tickets here!

#** Handsome Furs/ Aria C. Jalali @ Bottom of the Hil 4/15

Simian Mobile Disco/ Cut Copy @ Mezzanine 4/26
Islands @ Bimbo's 4/30
Peter (Bjorn and John) Moren @ Swedish American Hall 5/1
Death To Anders @ The Make-Out Room 6/8 �

* = I'm there
** = I'm DJing

# = win tickets during "480 Minutes"

more upcoming shows

Reminder: there's a new start date for my Blogs, Podcasts, and Internet Radio class at San Francisco State University's College of Extended Learning, and it's coming up fast. It's a week from tomorrow, Saturday April 5th. The class meets Saturdays at the downtown SFSU campus, and you can sign up right now for the Spring semester.