Coinerz on TV and at Denny's in NJ

I know this sounds crazy, but Coin Under Tongue are going to be filmed playing at a huge frikkin ballroom in Jersey for this late night T.V. show called "The Edge with Jake Sasseville" followed immediately by an all-expense-paid dinner at Denny's on Wednesday, April 1. If ANYONE wants to go to this for free, please email me and you will get a +1. Heyyyyoooo Jersey, anybody home? Supposedly, all the bands from the taping will be hanging out in this Denny's after the show @ 752 State Route 18 East Brunswick, NJ 08816 @ 7:30PM. 

What could possibly be the next step for CUT? MSG & Sizzler? Radio City and Bennigan's? Probably more like Dead Herring and White Castle.

Kick The Bucket

NPR is constantly being streamed into my brain. You can hear bands on air (see post below) and learn about the origins of English phrases. Pat O'Conner from grammarphobia.com was a guest recently and the phrase "kick the bucket" came up. Neither Brian Lehrer nor Pat knew where the phrase came from so they asked listeners to call the station if they knew. No one called! So I felt pretty smart when I sent this email: "I believe the term comes from the act of suicide, where one is standing on a bucket. Therefor, kicking the bucket...." but then a week later Pat sent this back to me: "Thanks for your email. I've had time to do a little checking of my own. It seems that there are two possible explanations for the phrase "kick the bucket," but as the Oxford English Dictionary notes, we unfortunately don't know which is the sure thing.

Here are the popular theories (if you can call such grim propositions "popular"):

(1) In the 1500s, "bucket" was a word for a beam or a yoke on which something could be suspended (from the Old French buquet). A pig was often hung by its heels from a beam (or "bucket") before or just after slaughter, and thrashed a bit in its final spasms. Therefore, to "kick the bucket" was to die.

(2) The "bucket" that's a pail has an uncertain etymology, but the OED compares it with the Old English buc, meaning a "pail," a "vessel," or a "belly." A suicide (or someone about to be executed) might stand on an overturned bucket with a noose about his neck, then strangle when the bucket was kicked away. Hence "kicking the bucket" meant dying.

The first published citation for the expression comes from Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785): "To kick the bucket, to die." The expression also appears in a collection of American proverbs from 1789, according to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.

Random House agrees with the OED that the origin remains uncertain "despite much speculation." But Eric Partridge's A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English goes for the slaughterhouse explanation. So does Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, which calls the suicide theory "rather less likely." Wow, thanks for the detailed response, Pat! What's interesting is that a change in the most widely accepted definition of the word "bucket" might have possibly forced us to imagine a new origin for the phrase, in order to keep its meaning intact. I wonder if other phrases have had similar transformations? How else might "kicking the bucket" result in death? Here's two I came up, can you think of any others?

Get In The Ambulance (LTD)

While hanging out over at Jay Space's place, I was introduced to a Jeremy Kay. He told me he was the bass player in a band called Ambulance LTD. I sort of flipped out a little bit because I had heard them on NPR a few months back. They played a new song live on air and I actually considered going to their show later that night based solely on their performance. Half fear of not knowing a band and half fear not knowing anyone else that might be interested kept me from attending that night, but I did try to keep up with their neverending legal battle with the now bankrupt TVT that have prevented the band from officially releasing any material that would be from their next album. I believe the band is able to just call the songs "demos" and try to spread the songs to their fans, but there is nothing "demo" about these songs.

"Ivy" is the type of song that you feel like you've heard before, like from your childhood, and now finally you've found out what that song is. The melody is instantly memorable because it's as if you've already been humming in your head before the band got around to recording it. And listen to the vocals in the video, that shit is live, on key, tight and rare.

PLEASE WELCOME SEAWHORES

After weeks of heavy negotiating techniques banned by the Geneva Conventions and lots of candy, Death By Audio Records is proud to announce the signing of our latest band, Minneapolis' own SEAWHORES! We have big plans for the future for this Doom Pop squad, but right now we have 20 tapes. We had 50 but 30 were stolen! What do we know about Adam, the man behind the meat curtains that lead to the control center that is the machine called C-Hores? We know about his dirty little secret 80's power synth band Arctic Universe. We know he has played with one of our favorite Brooklyn bands VAZ on several occasions. We know he co-wrote a song with a Playstation song generator called "College Walls" and the video is at the end of this post. He's also a great screenprinter and one of the funniest story tellers ever. If his talents were athletes at an Olympic event, he'd have to take up 4 tracks on a 3 man relay race. And that's just a summer event!

Seawhores "Building Better Bombs" cassette (DBA-#004) - BUY HERE!