The video for the White Stripes’ song, “My Doorbell,” will premiere tomorrow, August 12 at AOL Music.

Says V2′s press release: “This is an EXCLUSIVE; you won’t be able to see the video anywhere else, so mark your calendars. Set your reminders. Tie a string around your finger.”

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I know a few people who have made some questionable tattoo decisions in their lives. Often times their line of defense revolves around being under the influence of alcohol, or the recklessness of teenage youth.

But dear lord Julian Casablancas, what’s you’re excuse for your new ultimately bad spider arm tattoo captured in the above photo. To add insult to injury Julian is hanging out with what appears to be The Human Barnacle, aka- Josh Hartnett. Well, at least Jules opted out of getting “Xavier Roberts” tattooed on his butt. Uggghhhh… Horror revealed via the Strokes LJ.

Still traumatized? Treat yourself with these pics of a shirtless Nick Valensi playing guitar. Shot by the DeCadenet.

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On Sunday I was one of the thousands of people who tried to go see M.I.A. at Summerstage. Unfortunately me and my posse rolled up to Central Park a little too late to make the cut to get inside (as did Travis Morrison, formerly of Dismemberment Plan, who was standing behind us and therefore also turned away), so instead we sat behind the stage and just listened to the music.

As we waited for M.I.A. to come on, I discussed the merits of Summerstage errecting large projection screens behind the bleachers of the venue, so that way folks that don’t make it inside can not only hear the event, they could see it as well. We also saw Nora from “Project Runway” walking through the crowd and saw some dude get arrested.

Then the best part of the evening: an announcement was made over the PA for a 15-year-old boy named Ian. Ian’s grandma was looking for him. The crowd “awwwwed.” Ian probably cringed mid-mack on the cute 14-year-old he was talking to and mumbled, “Aw man! Grams is always cramping my style!”

Five years later, M.I.A. finally went on and dirty hippies danced in a circle by one of the walkways of the park. I believe M.I.A. may have only played a grand total of 35 minutes before going off stage to do a costume change for the encore (which we didn’t stay for). The spartan set promted me to say, “M.I.A. = GYP” although Matt had a good point by saying, “Hey, it was free. What more could you want.”

More on M.I.A. over at Fader blog.

Yesterday I beat the rain by heading in to Momofuku, that cool ramen noodle bar on 1st Avenue and 11th Street that you must go to as soon as you can. I’d been there once before, and remembered it being good, but man…I didn’t remember it tasting THAT good. Oh it was so tasty I could have cried. Instead I ate way too much and then had to drink a Coca-Cola to settle my stomach while I watched Murderball at the Sunshine Theater. Mmmm…ramen.

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Today I was flipping through the TV stations as I waited until The Real World: Austin was coming on at 10pm when I found myself watching what looked like a movie starring my beloved Jamie “Billy Elliot” Bell and Rachel Evan Wood. It was the two of them sitting in idyllic field of yellow flowers telling each other how much they loved one another.

I was like, “Since when did Jamie Bell and Rachel Evan Wood do a movie together?” But before I knew it, there was Billie Joe Armstrong’s crooked teeth all up in my face, singing the opening lines of the Greenday song, “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” a song about the passing of Billie Joe’s father.

It’s a beautiful-looking, “political” 7-minute video with a storyline that goes like this: Young boy and girl are in love. They share fun times, having birthdays, making out, throwing cake, running around carefree. Boy joins up for the Army. Girl cries. Boy gets sent to a war-torn country (Iraq). Girl looks anxious. Boy looks scared while holding machine gun. Someone gets shot. Girl looks up at sky in search of answers/ a better day/ an end to September. The End.

You can catch the video on AOLMusic.com

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Hey all. Some of you may have been wondering what I’ve been doing with myself over the last few days. I’ve been trying to beat the heat in several different ways:

Watching Movies

I’ve seem more movies in the last month than I’d seen all of last years. I’ve viewed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hustle and Flow, March of the Penguins, and 9 Songs. Now on that last movie, you may or may not have heard of it–it’s the new Michael Winterbottom film. Michael Winterbottom is the man who’s brought you brilliant movies such as Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People. He’s also brought you not so enjoyable films (IMHO) such as Jude and Welcome to Sarajevo. 9 Songs is one of those kinda not enjoyable films.

If you’ve read anything concerning the movie, you already know that it depicts real, live sex. As in the actors in the film were actually having sex as the cameras were filming. There is little to no story line involved–the characters are only seen within the confines of their apartment (talking nonsense or doing it), doing drugs, going to gigs at the Brixton Academy, and going to strip clubs. It’s basically a film you don’t want to see with your parents, and it’s definitely not a date movie–unless it’s a special kind of date.

The part I enjoyed most during the movie was the live concert footage. I had a game with myself to see if I could guess all of the bands. And I won! The bands who are featured in the movie are: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Von Bondies, Elbow, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Super Furry Animals, and The Dandy Warhols.

Riding Bikes

When I’m not watching movies, I’ve been riding my brand new folding bike. Just FYI, I got a Dahon Boardwalk from Metro Bikes on 14th Street. It meets my needs and I love that it folds up into a tiny little space. I’ve been riding the bike paths on the West and East sides. I shouldn’t really ride in traffic because I’m the world’s most uncoordinated person.

Looking at Laptops

Now I’m researching getting a new laptop because mine is on it’s last legs. It’s actually limping. I originally thought I wanted a thin and lightweight PC. I read on PCWorld that the Gateway M205X was good. Then I was talking to M. about what I should get and he said, “I can’t believe you’re getting another PC.” You see, M. is a Mac user. I replied, “Well, I have been thinking about getting an iBook or something like that, but I don’t know.” Then we had words about which was better, and then he said, “Well why don’t you post it on your site and see what people say: Macs vs. PCs: Which is better?. Then I said, “Well fine! But you know that all the Mac fanatics are going to write sanctimonious stories and sh-t like that…” So now I’m throwing the question out to you…which do you prefer, Macs or PCs, and for what reasons?

Eating Food

I’ve also been eating a lot. Mmm. Food. I finally got to check out Dumpling Man on St. Marks. Despite all of the raves I’ve read about the place, I have to say Dumpling Man isn’t so dumpling great. You can get better (and cheaper) dumplings in good ol’ Chinatown. BUT the upside to eating at Dumpling Man is that there is a really cute guy working the cash register. He kinda looks like he belongs in BBMak, but he’s not British, and he’s less gay looking. (No frosted tips.) I apologize to Cute Dumpling Man cashier boy in advance for mentioning this on my site.

Another upside is the place looks really cute and they have an adorable logo. But like I said, better little packets of Asian goodness can be found elsewhere. Sad.

Being a Talking Head

On Wed, I was part of a panel for Indie Night School talking about getting exposure in music press/media, etc. It was fun and interesting.

There were some wacky comments made by Paolo De Gregorio, the dude from Deli magazine, about having to spend $10,000 on an album to get the message across that you were a “serious” band, committed to making music. I found that comment to be a weird load of psychobable. Intrigued by that warped sense of reality, I just went on the Deli Web site to find out more information about my fellow panelist.

According to the “about us” page on the Deli magazine site, Paolo is a self-described “producer” who has “refined his skills as a sound/mixing engineer, collaborating with producer Charlie Francis (R.E.M, High Llamas, Turin Brakes, Minus 5).” Now knowing this piece of information, his comment makes a bit more sense. This man has a personal interest in bands spending tons of money on recording music because that’s one way he makes his own money. I urge anyone who was there and who heard Mr. De Gregorio’s comment to take it with a grain of salt.

All in all, I think everyone had fun and I hope folks got some good information from all of our babbling.

More talk about the Indie Night School: Blogger/Writer Edition: Daily Refill.

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As you may remember, last week I saw a highly amusing performance by Antony and the Johnsons at Town Hall. (Above are crappy photos of the band–I was too embarrased to snap any more pics during this quiet, seated event.) Part of my amusement with the event was because any time Antony came on or off of the stage he would tote along a handbag. I’m not sure why a performer would need to bring his/her handbag on- and off-stage with them…it’s not as if he/she was at a dinner party with lots of people he/she didn’t know and was afraid to leave his/her personal belongings in the host’s bedroom. I can’t even imagine why shoulder-wear would be necessary for a performance situation. All I know is that thing came and went with him wherever he was in the venue. Lord knows what is in there…Do you have any theories?

Other than the Handbag Incident, the show had other weird moments–like when Antony started bird calling the audience. No one was quite sure what to do…”Should we whistle back?,” I asked Matt. “I don’t know!!!,” he replied. Eventually someone else started whistling back, so I along with many others joined in.

Then there was the other part of the show where Antony asked us to all hum to create an atmosphere for the song he was going to sing…I can’t remember which song it was, in part because when Antony sings I can’t understand a damn word he’s saying.

All in all the event was gay-rific, but I still like Rufus Wainwright better.

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Remember that time when Bob Dylan and Jack White performed the White Stripes’ song, “Ball and a Biscuit,” live at Detroit’s State Theater? No? Re-live the magic with this special MP3.

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Tomorrow night (Wed) I’ll be part of a panel of writers/bloggers answering questions at the Indie Night School event at Pianos. The event starts around 7pm, so please arrive slightly early to secure a seat. Tickets will be sold at the door for 12 bucks (10 advance) and the Q & A portion of the event will end at 8:30pm, with a meet-and-greet lasting until 9pm.

Other folks in attendance will be Jasper, Audrey, Sarah, Elliot, and many others. Lineup subject to change.

Hope to see you there.

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As reported in the NY Post last weekend, Ryan Adams finally gave his hecklers exactly what they wanted, a cover version of Bryan Adams‘ hit, “Summer of ’69” at a recent gig in Sydney, Australia.

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