…Somehow this is brilliant.

Ted Nugent is not happy about today’s Supreme Court ruling. Not because he’s had a sudden change of heart, but because the decision was not unanimous. Here’s his statement. I’ve always wondered how someone with two Gibsons at the end of his arms could shoot, but maybe he supports gun rights on principle.

A “SUPREME” COURT? I CAN DO BETTER by Ted Nugent

It is glaringly obvious that a critical lesson in history 101 is due in America, for it appears that not only does a lunatic fringe of anti-freedom Americans dismiss our founding fathers’ clear declaration of independence and succinct enumeration of our God-given individual rights, but some Americans have the arrogance and audacity to question whether the right to self-defense is indeed one of these individual rights. Dear God in heaven, who could be this soulless? How about 4 out of the 9 so called “Supreme” justices of the land. God help us all.
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Before the picks, a video courtesy of the wayback machine and, uh, John Mayer’s blog, featuring Ray Charles and a particularly swangin’ Billy Preston.

Ongoing:

• Summer Concerts at Farragut Square—with its weekly cross-section of local rock—continues tonight and the following Thursday.
• Friday Night Live! Summer Concert Series in Herndon, VA.
• Check out the Silver Spring Summer Concert Series.

Tonight: The Console War at the Red and the Black; Dean Fields at Iota; Luke Brindley Band at Jammin’ Java; Salif Keita at the GWU Lisner Auditorium;

Saturday: Columbia Pike Blues Festival in Arlington; Frog Holler & Sarah Borges at Iota; War at Carter Barron Amphitheatre; New Day Rising at Kilroy’s; The Method, The Bourbon Dynasty, Airport Boulevard, Buck Forty Nine at the Red and the Black.

Sunday: Emmylou Harris at Wolf Trap; Cloak/Dagger, Transistor Transistor, New Idea Society at the Black Cat.

And for the final video this week: Emmylou’s performance in The Last Waltz.

P.S. Curm: I left you a couple strategic openings. Have at it!

Listening Booth: First in a series.

I recently was gifted the massive Albert Ayler Holy Ghost box set. The set is comprised of nine CDs of rare and unreleased jams dating from his military band times to his spiritual-free-jazz heyday. It is dense and intense: the Ulysses of box sets: musical beauty tangling with serious ruffness, head-nodding charms with crazy-ass migraine inducing shit. The man himself you can read about here.

Holy Ghost came out several years ago. We got a copy of it in the office, complete with black plastic hard case, booklets, pictures, dried flower. I decided I had to record it on tape–for my car [back then I only had a tape deck]. I tried blasting it as I drove around town. At the time, after a few road tests with my tapes, I felt this was a very bad idea.

I put the tapes away and forgot about Albert Ayler for a while. My last experience with the set came from another road trip. This time, I had the pleasure of sitting in the backseat of a friend’s car as he cranked the set from his iPOD. Nothing like sitting in New York Avenue traffic with Ayler jamming deep and spiritual into your eardrums.

You can listen to Ayler here and you might get what I’m talking about.

Anyway, now that I have the box set, I decided to finally breakdown and take on the Ayler challenge. I caught up with WPFW Program Director Bobby Hill. He recommended I should just jump to Disc 6, Track 8–”Thank God For Women.” He suggested I pop that jam in my car and blast it. He says he’s blasted Ayler in his car many times.

Hill is a cool dude with a deep jazz knowledge. So on a recent night, I decided to give it a try. Ayler’s proto-Funkadelic bop filled my car. I rolled down the windows. And then pumped the song even louder.

I wanted people to hear Ayler. I counted only two weird looks from other drivers. A real victory for free jazz.

The song itself floored me. After five or six blocks, I had goose bumps. I’m now hooked. I only have 9 discs and hours of freak-out jazz to go.

Jim Spellman, former drummer for Velocity Girl and current member of Julie Ocean, is now a producer for CNN. Recently, Spellman volunteered to be Tasered for a piece on non-lethal weapons. His take? It “hurt like the dickens.”

I am taking notes, as I’m reviewing the show for the Post. The definitely not thirsty lady next to me starts jostling me during the last song, “Man on the Moon,” and at one point tries to grab my hand and force me to finger-dance alongside her during the “yeah yeah yeah yeah” parts. Politely indicate that I’m working.

She then escalates the bumping-into-me campaign and, during the feedbacky end of the song, shouts, “I HOPE YOU’RE WRITING THIS DOWN BECAUSE THEY’RE FUCKING AWESOME.” I am, in fact, writing down observations about the show. “MY FRIEND WANTS TO TELL YOU SOMETHING,” she shouts. She shoves her friend in front of me and repeats that her friend wants to tell me something. “Yes?” I ask.

“WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!” shouts her friend.

“HE DOESN’T CARE!” the first woman shouts. “HE WORKS FOR A NEWSPAPER!”

Photo from last night’s show by S1acker

Sam The Man Burns is a D.C. music legend. As one of D.C.’s premier disc jockeys, he has helped shape the local house music scene since its inception back in the day at the Clubhouse—all while inspiring generations of house heads and fellow DJs. A walking encyclopedia of records, D.C. club history and ’70s blaxploitation films, Sam is your favorite DJ’s favorite DJ. Not to mention he has been a driving force in keeping DJ Hut (formerly 12 Inch Dance Records) open and committed to supplying the local vinyl junkies with their fix.

This Friday DJ Divine and friends will be throwing a party to celebrate Sam’s birthday. The action goes down tonight at Mirrors, 33 New York Ave NE. You can bet the dance floor will be bumping, the walls will sweat and the beat won’t stop until early Saturday morning. As Sam loves to say “bring money and wash your a#$!”

City Paper music contributor Sarah Godfrey, I’m thrilled to report, is a finalist in the music-criticism category in the 2008 AltWeekly Awards. Take a look at the three pieces that earned her the nomination:

“Half the Man He Used to Be,” July 19, 2007 (On T.I.’s T.I. vs. T.I.P.)

“People, People, Why Are They Fighting?” Sept. 19, 2007 (On Kanye West’s Graduation and 50 Cent’s Curtis)

“Hug Life,” Oct. 24, 2007 (On Trey Songz‘ Trey Day and J. Holiday’s Back of My Lac’)

Man. The New York Times has a pretty depressing story today on the state of the indie record store. Here’s the nugget you all should take away:

“Some 3,100 record stores around the country have closed since 2003, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail, a market research firm. And that’s not just the big boxes like the 89 Tower Records outlets that closed at the end of 2006; nearly half were independent shops. In Manhattan and Brooklyn at least 80 stores have shut down in the last five years.”

Well. We can do something about it. National Record Store Day hits this Saturday. A number of area shops are getting in on the action. Crooked Beat in Adams Morgan plans to mark the day with free grab bags of cool stuff. The first 50 paying customers will get bags stuffed with CDs, stickers, 7-inch singles, buttons, and posters.

One lucky customers will receive a bag containing a $20 gift certificate to the shop. Sounds like a good time as it always is at Crooked Beat.

So at least for one day, we should stop downloading, freeloading, and burning.

I know. I know. It’s only April. Way too early to be making predictions about Album of the Year. Plus, it’s a metal record we’re talkin’ about and few will believe that a metal record–even a really catchy, accessible metal record–could ever be, you know, the record. (Those who already worship this album should just go check out the most genius thing on the Internet.)

But it must be said, just so I can say, I told you so: Torche’s Meanderthal, which came out on Tuesday, is this year’s album to beat. Even with its inappropriate title, Where the Wild Things Are cover art, and Heavy Metal Parking Lot lyrics (on “Across the Shield, Steve Brooks sings, “Impalin’ every born knight/Raidin’, pierced the hole, rite”), this album does more, aesthetically, and does it better than anything else I’ve heard this year, or last year.

Seriously.

You can hear Meanderthal here.