Jake

Wild that nobody’s successfully identified the drummer!

YouTube video by Matthew Hall My Computer (w Kate Bush)

In honor of today's news that AOL will soon be ending dial-up service, here's the 1996 collaboration between Prince and Kate Bush, which begins & ends with a tribute to the AOL sign-on experience, based on Prince's mid-90s habit of dropping in on fans in our weekly AOL chats: youtu.be/wxJ2SCxMy1g

Elvis Lives. In Wales. South of Pyle and west of Merthyr Mawr on the Bristol Channel sits Porthcawl, a Welsh town of 16,000 that was established in the 19th century as a coal port....

Elvis Lives. In Wales.. By Stephen Macaulay.

PBS needs you, y'all. Become a member. Get Passport. mainline documentaries until your eyes bulge cuz your brain is too stuffed.

This piece, from trans author @laurentheisen.bsky.social, is very, very well worth reading.

A purple Olivia Rodrigo record playing on a turntable.

This pressing of Guts is considerably cleaner than that copy of Sour. Sounds way better. New mass-market vinyl is such a crapshoot. Emphasis on crap.

Bright blue record playing on a turntable.

The “posters” are just low-quality 12x12 and kind of lame. The records are fun though and I’m happy they’re each short enough to fit on a single disc.

Bought the Olivia Rodrigo albums on vinyl from Target today and they come with exclusive posters. “Gonna hang them up on the wall in your office, creeper?” My wife is so mean. I’M NOT A CREEPER I’M A FAN.

My favorite doctor and companion

YouTube video by Kaleb Horton Elizabeth Cotten - Shake Sugaree (Live)

But this is the only useful thing I did on the site. I’m happy to have done it. Probably 50,000 people have listened to it because of my stupid ass. youtu.be/BQryOsiKgts

Oh no! There’s a man trapped inside the Bean!

YouTube video by ayzee Christensen & Tartaglia - Spires

I sent a copy of the Christensen & Tartaglia album from 1969 to @andrewmale.bsky.social recently, and then realized that "Spires," a track I've been obsessed with for decades--it's like a lost Leonard Nimoy/David Axelrod collaboration--wasn't on YouTube. I have now rectified this. You're welcome.

Wow.

A shitty map created by ChatGPT5. it purports to be US States with an R in their name, but it's wrong and dumb and worthless just like LLMs.

My goto is to ask LLMs how many states have R in their name. They always fail. GPT 5 included Indiana, Illinois, and Texas in its list. It then asked me if I wanted an alphabetical highlighted map. Sure, why not.

ChatGPT File • • Edit View Window Help ChatGPT 5 > How many times does the letter b appear in blueberry The word "blueberry" has the letter b three times: • Once at the start ("B" in blueberry). • Once in the middle ("b" in blue). • Once before the -erry ending ("b" in berry). Total: 3 O92 Show me where the letter b appears in the word please. Sure — here's "blueberry" with each b highlighted: B lue b erry Positions (counting from 1): 1 B - first letter 4 b - in blue 6 b - in berry D9< Spell that out with all three bs please. I mean, just spell the word. Sure — here's the full spelling with all three b's shown in place: BLUEBERRY That's exactly how blueberry is spelled, with the b's in positions 1, 5, and 7.

ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help E ChatGPT 5 > You wrote "BLUEBERRY". There are only two bs there. Ah - I see the mix-up. Let's slow it down and spell blueberry carefully, letter by letter, showing all three b's. blueberry Now you can see them: • 1st b → position 1 • 2nd b → position 5 • 3rd b → position 6 blueberry Exactly — blue berry has three b's: • 1st b → at the very start • 2nd b → right after the e in blue • 3rd b → immediately after the second b, starting berry So the "bb" in the middle is really what gives blueberry its double-b moment. Its double-b moment; I see. Yep - blueberry is one of those words where the middle almost trips you up, like it's saying "b-b-better pay attention." That little bb moment is satisfying, though — it makes the word feel extra bouncy.

 ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help 巴 • ChatGPT 5 > My students get you to write their essays for them, you know. Ah, the old "ChatGPT, do my homework" routine — I'm familiar with that one. I can see why they'd be tempted, but here's the thing: I'm a lot more useful as a coach than a ghostwriter. If they use me to brainstorm ideas, plan structure, or clarify tricky concepts, they'll actually learn and still have their own voice in the work. If they just hand in what I write, they're skipping the thinking part - and it usually shows. I'm good, but I still leave a trail of... telltale ChatGPT-isms. A trail of blueberries, as it were. Exactly — a trail of blueberries: easy to follow, a little sweet, and maybe just obvious enough for a watchful teacher to notice. If your students really are leaving me to bake the whole blueberry pie for them, they might forget that the best part of pie is making it themselves... even if it gets a little messy. "Blueberry" only has two bs. Nope - blueberry really does have three b's. Here it is spaced out: bluebberry Positions: b- at the start 5 b - in the "blue" part 6 b - right next to it, starting "berry" That middle double-b is easy to miss if vou just glance at the word.

I had to try the “blueberry” thing myself with GPT5. I merely report the results.

Sheesh how gross must’ve it been in 1923? Ew.

Ew

Same with the Titanic movie.

The only really annoying thing about the Beastie Boys book was how the editor insisted on them being referred to as Beastie Boys and never THE Beastie Boys. As if they’d never heard “Fight for Your Right to Party.”

Aww mom you’re just jealous it’s…

www.etsy.com/listing/1688...

@consequence.bsky.social Has anybody at Conde Nast admitted that Pitchfork's "new ownership group [...] insisted on Black Pumas"? That seems like a rather bold claim!

In case you missed it, I wrote about going to Lollapalooza again even though I’m 3x older than the average attendee.

We applied too late to get a photo pass this year! Hopefully we’ll get one for Riot Fest!

Indie rock fans, it's time to get on the Ryan Davis bandwagon Charming critics and audiences with New Threats From The Soul, his funny, loose, reference-packed album, the veteran Louisville musician is having an unlikely breakthrough at 40 years old.

I thank my fellow music critics for turning me on to this absolute gem, happy to admit I was sleeping. My newsletter about him and the band and indie sustainability is now one the World Wide Web for all to read www.npr.org/2025/08/06/n...

YouTube video by Just Some Guy Elliott Smith - a distorted reality 7" single

Elliott Smith - A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to be Free

Happy birthday Elliott Smith. Still missed. This is a diff version than the one on From a Basement on the Hill. RIP.

#ElliottSmith #MusicBirthday #threefer #MusicSky #distorted

youtu.be/yFSuOqYNF6o?...

Wrote about Lollapalooza. Warning: Lots of sad sack dad nostalgia content. And brunch details.

Frankly, I'm astonished that she kept so calm. "How much help did you have writing the play?" "...rather sordid..." and he emphasises as much distaste as he possibly can for the phrase "in your native Lancashire".

I think the Oasis concert was the best night of my life? Nostalgia is a hell of a drug

i really didn't want to read about oasis AGAIN but unsurprisingly, Yasi Selek's piece about going to Wembley is perfect. mostly because she's a fan and she gets it. she is right that there's no point in seeing those shows over here. www.fast-loose.com/p/i-think-th...

So cool.

Just finished part one of the Billy Joel doc. Hope part two stops following him and is all about Elizabeth Weber Small. What a cool, interesting woman!