CONTRARY TO PREVIOUS REPORTS, DISCO DOESN'T SUCK

So yeah.

My boy Disco The Kid sent me a copy of {Public-Domain}�s latest EP entitled �This Stretch �� after I successfully begged him for a copy under the pretenses that I would dust off my old reviewing skills, give the disc a twirl and post my thoughts on it here.

Three words � Public-Domain rawks. The band takes some serious subject matter such as the tribulations of facing life as a single parent and slams the topics up against some driving rock and roll that is relentless in its presentation.

Three songs make up the EP, bringing the whole experience home in less than fifteen minutes. Kicking off the disc is �Adopt-A-Highway�, a paean to the single mother with an infectious chorus that rumbles around in your head immediately after the first time you hear it. The despair of the situation that some mothers face comes to the forefront of the song as Disco alternates his point of view from a narrative stance to the voices of the children in the back seat of a car wondering �how much further� and if they�re �almost there�. It�s a tight rock and roll number that sounds like something Chuck Berry would have written if he had been born 40 years later than he was.

�Angels Don�t Write Things Down� features some beautiful piano work from Anthony, which buoys the song every time it rears its head to kick ass and take names. Documenting the grapple that some people have with religion, Disco�s voice alternates between a sedate croon and a roaring bellow with both tones getting the point across with a desperate sense of urgency. The aural equivalent of a nervous breakdown at times, �Angels� reminds me of Guns �n Roses, circa the �Use Your Illusion� period, capturing both beauty and venom in the same song.

The final track �Dead On My Feet� features some killer guitar work in a post-punk ditty telling the story of the toll it takes to be in love with someone harboring a self-destructive personality. When Disco violently screams �Shake me!�, the music takes a pause to reflect on just how badly this relationship is crippling him. The angst that he�s experiencing is well conveyed in both John�s driving beats and Disco�s pained yelps and will leave you as emotionally drained as the protagonist in the song.

I�ll tell ya what, I�ve been a fan of Disco�s diary for well over a year now and have been keeping up with his work in the band. I�m not exactly sure what I was expecting to hear when I received the disc � but it�s about a hundred times better than I ever would have dreamed.

If you want a free copy of the disc, tough titty. I�m special, you're not.

But if you want to get a copy for yourself, check out Disco�s site or Public Domain�s site. I know he�s charging $4.50 a disc plus shipping and handling which is a helluva small price to pay for what could very well be a collector�s item someday when these boys hit it big. The band has already been landing some high profile gigs in the NYC area and if they keep on coming up with killer music like this, it�ll be sooner rather than later that you�ll be seeing them at a concert near you. Plus, it's an actual Diarylander's disc. And a real cool one at that. And there's pictures of The Kid and his bandmates and everything in there.

Rock the fuck on.

And a very special thanks to everyone that brought the recent New York Times article on Television Without Pity to my attention yesterday.

It�s a great article that focuses on why the site has quickly influenced Hollywood and how producers, writers and actors are turning to it to find out how they�re doing.

Naturally, the reason the article kicks total ass is because it mentions your dear ol� Uncle Bob by name on page 3.

If you�d like to check out the entire article and see your buddy�s name in the New York Times, click here.

I promise, I won�t let this go to my head.

Anymore than it already has, anyway.

Ummmm...the boy decided to wake up at 5:15 a.m. and is currently watching his worn tape of The Wiggles and doing his little almost-two-year-old Wiggles dances. Which would be cause for alarm if I had an ounce of energy to even care.

So I'd better go take care of him and leave you guys alone.

I know, I know.

I seriously need to get my priorities straight.