That first official day of fierce in your face winter with lots of snow, snow, and more snow, accessorized with wind, really took it out of me yesterday.

It was snowing pretty good as I left the west side yesterday morning to drive to the east side for work. While at work, it snowed all day, and the driving conditions got progressively worse as the day went on. The drive home was pretty bogus until I got back to the west side where magically, there was NO snow.

That, my friends, is why the west side of Cleveland rules. And it’s also why working on the east side sucks, because you never really know what you’re in for – i.e. is the weather REALLY this crummy everywhere….or just here?

On the plus side, I got mail for the first time in two weeks now that everything is starting to re-route properly to my P.O. Box.

Phew. I was starting to wonder.

Speaking of mail:

I’m starting to think that my buddy Kevin Mason might be onto something with the whole video blogging thing.

You see, yesterday was apparently the day that the entire internet decided to reach out and email me regarding Addicted to Vinyl related items/questions.

I felt the love x 200 on the day that I needed it most. You see, I was feeling a bit fragile.

Actually, that’s not true at all. I was feeling pretty darn good, except for that pesky snow issue.

What the ATV readers don’t know (well, some of them do…) is that one of my personal issues is that I’m sometimes not the best on getting back to emails I receive. And this has been the case lately – heck, I know I’ve even been a bit lax on responding to comments here.

So if I could have put up a video blog last night, it would have gone something like this:

*fade up from black revealing Matt’s smiling face*

Hello my beloved Addicted to Vinyl readers.

I would like to thank all of you for visiting the website today.

I would especially like to thank those of you that took time out of your busy lives, to send me personal email messages.

*camera zooms in*

You see that? Those are real tears, ATV readers. Real tears that I weep of joy, especially for you.

Now speaking of that, I’ll suggest that you all should listen to the fine Smithereens album Especially for You, which was created especially for each and every one of you.

I’m going to bed now.

*camera fades to black*

That’s just a rough draft. I promise that if I ever actually do get around to doing video blogs, they’ll be more interesting, or padded with special video blog special guests. Everybody loves special guest appearances.

Anyway, in other news – I thought I’d share a couple of things with you.

First, I continue to realize that I need to update my list of links, which ties into the following item:

Between Like and Love, who apparently love this site enough to feature it in their list of links (thanks guys!!!) hipped me to a very cool contest going on right now in which you could win your very own IKEA shopping spree with Pavement!

How fun would that be? IKEA + hanging with a random Pavement member, sounds like a good time to me!

GNR:

I’ve updated my original Chinese Democracy posting with links to several different reviews that have popped online since I originally posted my item. Check ’em out now for a whole buncha perspective on GNR version 2008.

Among the reviews: My comrade Chris Akin says that Chinese Democracy wouldn’t have been worth a six month wait.

She’s just a Girl In A Coma:

Girl In A Coma have two tracks on the new holiday album from Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records that I mentioned a couple of days ago. Site regular Chris dropped me an email to share news about the Texas trio who recently wrapped up a tour supporting Tegan and Sara. The band has a new video for the song “Their Cell.” The tune comes off of their debut album for Blackheart Both Before I’m Gone, and was filmed in an allegedly haunted prison built in 1885 in Gonzales, TX.

Girl In A Coma – Their Cell

Here’s a press release about the vid….dig it, and I’ll talk at you all later!!

xoxo

M

Girl in a Coma premiered their latest video for their song “Their Cell” recently, a track from their debut album ‘Both Before I’m Gone,’ released on Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label.
The video was directed by Jim Mendiola and filmed at an old prison 75 miles outside of San Antonio. The Gonzales jail, built in 1885 and one of the great historic sites in Texas, is now a museum. Early in the video we see Phanie Diaz (drummer) reading ‘Ghosts Of Gonzales,’ a book on haunted places in Gonzales with a chapter on the old jail.
Also featured in the video are drawings of Nina Diaz (guitar, vox) by artist Shizu Saldamando, who draws inspiration from paño arte, a form of prison art in which inmates use ballpoint pens to draw loved ones and religious icons on cotton handkerchiefs.
This San Antonio trio joined the October Tegan and Sara tour for a set of US shows and played several dates on the True Colors tour in June. They were also handpicked by Morrissey to open his US/European 07/08 tours.

Says Filter Magazine, in a recent live review of the trio on tour with Tegan and Sara: “…the true beauty of their sound is the patient way that [Nina] Diaz’ vocals ride over near-punk with an artful sophistication of Linda Perry or Siouxie Sioux.”

The End.