It's Sunday December 17th, 2006. Now there was a time when winter weather created an ice bridge on the Niagara River and we'd all head out for various international merryment amidst the cataracts. Not this year though. It's mid December and I think the mean temperature is somewhere north of Mercury. Granted it makes driving easier, but sooner or later the polar bears are going to push south. Then we'll learn. The people must have something good to read on a Sunday
You know it's December when most of our big stories really have nothing to do with new music. We had the expected controversy as CNN spoke with the so-called "punk preacher" Jay Bakker. While the Org lists are still in the oven Rolling Stone chimed in with their 100 best songs of `06. The grinches at the RIAA, looking for a new way to steal Christmas this year, petitioned to lower artist royalties. Let's hope they're not looking at the global index of illicit markets, because pirated music ranks pretty highly. Fat Wreck at least has the spirit, posting their "Xmas Bonus" with rarities, alternate versions and more audio goodness from bands like NOFX, Smoke or Fire, and Strike Anywhere. Speaking of NOFX, congratulations El Hefe! On a more somber note DeSoto Records has started a support fund for legendary musician/producer J. Robbins and his son Cal, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy.
Since nothing much happens in December we find many bands looking towards 2007. Big D and the Kids Table and Bad Religon were confirmed for next summer's next summer's Warped Tour, while the upcoming Bamboozle added the Blood Brothers, Catch 22 and many others. On the audio front we treated you to full album streams for the holidays, namely Punknews Records acts Somerset and Ryan's Hope.
This week we said goodbye to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006) and Team Spider vocalist Joseph Bernard Zak (1926-2006).
Click Read More to see this week's streaming music, contests and other highlights.
Radio Free Punknews
Check the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of anticipated new music including Cry Tuff Council, a new dub outfit featuring former Bosstones axeman Nate Albert, the new Fake Problems collection Spokes and Spurs / Bulls > Matador, Down To Nothing's All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, the new album from Deltona, FL's No Harm Done, Planes Mistaken For Stars' Mercy, Avail frontman Tim Barry's solo debut Rivanna Junction, and Anthem Red's Dancing on the Dishwasher.
Suntans are for Winners 'The Ultimate Band Rig' from MxPx MxPx is testing the limits of discography categorization this year with both a compilation and a reissue of an eight-year-old compilation. Fanscape wants to help celebrate the latter's release by giving one extremely lucky fan a mind-blowing band rig that includes ::deep breath:: an Ernie Ball guitar, an Ernie Ball bass, a Truth Drums snare drum, Samson Wireless Technology full personal setup, a…oh forget it, you can check out the entire prize lineup by clicking to this handy contest entry form. Two runners up will even get in on the action with some band merchandise and autographed drum sticks.
Park - Building a Better Noun
The fine folks at Lobster Records and the friendly chaps in Park have whipped up a holiday-time contest for ya'll. The booty be a pair of shoes from Dekline, the entire Park discography and some custom holiday merch from the band. As you might know, their new album Building a Better _______ came out this year and apparently the band was stumped as to what exactly they were building. All you have to do in order to win is tell the band what exactly it was they were building. Simple, no?
Unwritten Law snowboard + 'The Hit List'
What better way to embrace the bitter temperature of a rapidly approaching winter than with a snowboard? Punknews.org and Fanscape are teaming up to give one lucky winner a custom Unwritten Law snowboard and a copy of the band's upcoming collections album, The Hit List, where the band will introduce some old favorites in re-recorded/re-arranged form. If this sounds like an offer you'd take up, click to this special Fanscape contest page to enter and check out the rules.
'The Ultimate Band Rig' from MxPx MxPx is testing the limits of discography categorization this year with both a compilation and a reissue of an eight-year-old compilation. Fanscape wants to help celebrate the latter's release by giving one extremely lucky fan a mind-blowing band rig that includes ::deep breath:: an Ernie Ball guitar, an Ernie Ball bass, a Truth Drums snare drum, Samson Wireless Technology full personal setup, a…oh forget it, you can check out the entire prize lineup by clicking to this handy contest entry form.
Staff Blogs
When not writing about music on the internet, many members of the Punknews staff find time to write about music on the internet. You can check out the depraved musings of Justin August at Kinder Words and Adam White at 2:59. Chris Moran's all over the place with content rocking both MySpace and Flickr.
Life at Disconnect
We've theorized that you visit other websites out there, and we know it can be tough to leave the calming blue glow of the `Org, so we'll help by infecting the rest of the web with Punknews content. Waste some time on the Punknews.org and Punknews Records MySpace pages or contribute your listening habits to the weekly charts Last.fm group.
Come Join Us
Why register on Punknews.org? Registered users can rate bands and reviews, building recommendations and links between artists for the whole community to share and discover. Users get their own profile page showing recent comments, top rated bands and favourite records and more. So go ahead, cast off the cloak of anonymity and create your account today - it's free, easy and private.