i made you a mixtape. cept its a muxtape. dont ask me why.

all it means is you can click on the tape up there and listen to 12 songs that i love right now. right this second. yep you.

all these songs are very special to me and theyre arranged in a particular order. if listening to them in this order makes you want to fall in lust with me, dont fight that feeling.

Tom Waits – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – (2:31)
Kanye West – Throw Some D’s (Remix)- (2:36)
Ice cube – It Was A good Day (Remix) – (4:28)
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes – Nothing Compares 2 U – (2:42)
Victoria Williams – You R Loved – (4:50)
Teenage Fanclub – Norman 3 – (4:37)
The Replacements – Sixteen Blue (live) – (4:48)
Nina Gordon – Nobody’s Fool (live) – (3:44)
Backside Boys – Every Homo (live) – (2:29)
Pixies – Tony’s Theme – (1:52)
Tsar – Startime – (3:39)
Rollins Band – Do It – (2:40)

listen, make a mix of yr faves and if you do let us know in the comments below.

h/t lynne who just wrote about this cool site and that inspired me

while reporting

one of the more sensitive lines drawn at my workplace in regards to blogs are when journalists who have never expressed opinions in their work suddenly find themselves blogging. some think that blogging means injecting opinion into the story. while that is sometimes the case, its not always the case.

some bloggers think that they are fooling their readers when they let the subject that they present carry their water for them. the blogger will only link to stories that support their agenda, for example, or only blog about things that fit their theories.

in the example above a reporter for a site ive never heard of, but now will return to, is asked by one of her subjects what her opinion is regarding the anniversary of MLKs death. whereas many journalists would normally shy away from such a question by saying, this isnt about me, this is about you, the young lady who is now my new girlfriend, answers the question more eloquently and directly than any of her interviewees.

im not saying that journalists should seek out ways to pose their two cents, but when they have a chance to quit pretending that theyre not human, they shouldnt be afraid to just answer the damn question, because everyone has a point of view and its not always terrible (in my opinion) to express it – especially when called out.

so lets give the former nra president a 21 gun salute

one gun fired by a twenty year old, that is

but for some reason after watching andrew sullivan and christopher hitchens on tim russert i saw kravitz on unplugged do his latest single “i’ll be waiting” and it really moved me.

i have a feeling i was touched by it because i could finally actually hear it.

if you watch and listen to the album version, its so bloated and overproduced and radio friendly that it doesnt sound the least bit special or the least bit sincere

sure the strings during the climax are 70s and somewhat uplifting but its entirely forced and predictable and contrived. yes its symbolic of the romantic message of the song which is one day after the love interest recovers from her malaise and realizes that the hero is indeed the one she should be with violins and horns will provide the triumphant crescendo of their reunion, but how many millions of times have we heard that before?

added to that symbolism is kravitz alone in the studio, playing all the instruments alone, singing alone, until the breakthrough happens when he brings in the troops – is cheesy at best. lenny kravitz is one of the coolest rock stars alive – off stage. if he were to walk past you youd know instantly that hes a powerfully spiritual and talented star. the real deal. but his records are some of the most predictable pablum out there.

thats all changed when he steps back, lets the flat piano get replaced by subtle guitar, and allows his band to actually be a band, as in this appearance on Unplugged:

that bleating piano is gone, replaced with a warm guitar and organ. kravitz just sits there and sings the damn thing. and that fucker can sing. and what you get is a real rock song. you get depth. you can feel the soul. you can hear an actual ensemble.

im the one who really loves you baby for some reason sounds entirely different.

and how good is that saxophone? big man, assist me please.

and this is the reason why live music is what its all about, if you ask me. and why selling music and recording music to be sold is far different than playing music that youve written.

and why im glad that Unplugged is back on tv.

as great as he was in 10 commandments, michael moore probably captured him at his all time best saddesti loved him in The Omega Man

here he is talking about playing Moses

may the red sea part for you, oh man of the silver screen

and there was an interesting play where the catcher made a great catch that was an out AND and error. one of the great things about baseball, no matter how many years you watch game after game, something new is capable of being shown to you.

ive never liked san diego, but one great thing came out of that ridiculous town thru their baseball team: the san diego chicken, later called the famous chicken after that rotten town and team sued its most colorful mascot.

for all of you who said they dont like my baseball talk, heres a happy compromise, some video from the san diego chicken

wheres the famous chicken now? still doing his thing. mostly in the minors. check here to see if the greatest mascot in the world is coming to your town this summer.

Absolut did an ad campaign for its Mexican consumers (why its english i dont know) and it caused Drudge to link to it, and the righty bloggers and a good portion of the 1000+ commentors of our blog La Plaza to lose their minds.

here are some of the many comments on La Plaza:

– I am seeing a lot of HATE going on this blog. Ya’ll need to relax and have a martini, shaken not stirred.

– I’ll never ever buy Absolute again, and I’m telling everyone I know to do the same. I’m not a redneck racist, I just love my country, The United States of America, all 50 of them. This is the most ignorant advertising campaign i’ve ever seen. They have no idea how badly they’ve stepped in it.

Nobody needs Absolute anyway? It’s overpriced for what it is, there are plenty of better choices available, many of them American made!

– One more reason not to drink the over-pushed and over-advertised “Absolut waste of time.” Stolichnaya is real Vodka and what I drink anyway.

– A boycott is too good for Absolut. They need to be investigated for promoting and supporting the violent takeover of the United States by foreign persons.

– I drank only Absolut all my life. Never again.
I find it unfathomably stupid for Absolut to advertise for the Mexican “reconquista” movement sponsored by the racist LaRaza organization. Congratulations, guys: abslolut-ly stupid. You are in there for this year’s Darwin Awards.

If a similar ad ran in England where in an ABSOLUTE world the 13 colonies would still be British THAT would be even funnier. I think the haters on this posting are the same ones driving around with confederate flags attached to their chevy trucks.

– It’s a simple message, really: If you drink, don’t draw maps.

– Wow! How many of you have the extra WEALTH to pour good liquor out because of an advertisement? What INSECURITY you suffer. I’ll bet a trillion dollars that ya’ll are the same KNEEJERKS who believed the WMD Iraq lie.

wonkette and its readers were funny about it.

needless to say, the post, the blog, and the comment threads are en fuego. as are the kids on digg

Update: Absolut Aplogizes!

usually on Fridays you ask me questions and most would agree i answer honestly and openly

for tonight and tomorrow you are the star and your answers are amazingly important,

plus it will only take you 2-3 minutes tops to answer them all so lets go:

1. what city do you live in
2. how old are you
3. approximately how long have you been reading the busblog
4. how did you first make your way to the busblog
5. what do you most like about this blog
6. what do you dislike about this blog
7. what improvements would you like to see here
8. how many days a week do you come here
9. other than this blog, name one or two others that you frequent
10. if the busblog ended on monday would it make much of a difference to you

thats it, knock yourself out

and thank you!

after being in africa for two point five years working for the peace corps. i call her my true love because soul mate is overused.

the best part about having a true love is you know that somewhere on the planet there is someone who truly connects with you as close to 100% as you could ever imagine. you know that there is meaning to life. you know that youre not alone. you know that you have really been loved for the right reasons by someone who you loved for the right reasons too.

does that mean that i still am very interested in others, of course. does that mean that shes still interested in exploring the globe, mais oui. does that mean that we might ever be back together again, maybe even in the same hot tub? no. does that make me sad? no. does any of this make any sense? yes and no.

sometimes when you have found your spiritual and physical counterpart things can get really dull. i know i was dull when we were together at the end. it was almost as if the game was over. usually thats the part when people have kids and make their lives about anything other than their dull dough. and i suppose that makes sense for some. but for me and my love we sorta looked at the planet as something that was already doing ok as far as population goes.

in fact if theres one thing that this blue green marble has plenty of its eating shitting yapping creatures. dont get me wrong, i love people. i probably love them more than anyone. same for her. i could go all day shitting eating and yapping with all the creatures. but that doesnt mean that i felt any need to create any.

as i have gotten older that desire has dwindled even further and as much as i would do anything in the world for my truest, including letting her grow on her own, alone if necessary, the only way i could imagine creating a creature with her would be if she convinced me or said it was something that she really wanted. otherwise i would just suggest that we raise an orphan, as there are several gazillion of those sitting around waiting for a miracle to come their way.

my truest eyes are everything like the sun. her heart is the reason for global warming. and africa is better today than it was several years ago. everything about her makes me happy even, oddly, when she talks about her plans for the future, most of which doesnt involve me or LA or blogging or getting naked with me.

maybe its because sense of self gets removed in a good way when youve found your truest and the other simply becomes a part of you thats somewhere else, doing other things, with other people.

perhaps its all just beautiful rationalization or maybe its something else. would i like for her to say oh tony i wanna live with you in hollywood and dress like a school girl and bake for you and organize your closets and take weekend trips up the 1? maybe. but id rather her say something like

the world is ours. i could rock it with you or without you but even without you we are always together. so lets just play it by ear and in the meantime get wasted and bang like everyday is spring break. since it secretly is.

– The Dirty tells LAT blog Web Scout how it got hold of the pics of Matt Leinart having a hot tub beer bong party with underaged ASU coeds

– Google’s fixin to buy not just Skype but Expedia? Google can’t just make their own Expedia?

– Danielle is channeling Eddie Murphy circa his SNL days

– Hall & Oates fixin to play the Troubadour for the low low price of $200 a ticket

– Today is Good People Day? When can we celebrate Bitchy Blogger Day?

– Now this i can get behind: “The Incredible Power of Contentment”

– Frisco fixin to name a sewage plant after the current president of the usa

– the Pants returned the other day. tell her to keep up the good work.

– cherry blossoms in brooklyn already? does this mean six less weeks of winter?

– Leah takes such beautiful photographs. Truly.

– hey when did Moxie get a black pussy?

– and finally, the missing apostrophe has been added to the Ernie Banks statue at Wrigley Field