The Tucson Weekly interviewed famous soprano saxophonist and noted mousse enthusiast Kenny “G” Gorelick in its August 7-13 issue for their “Nine Questions” feature. The interview tied in to Mr. G’s upcoming appearance at the Desert Diamond Casino (”Where Music Goes to Die from Autoerotic Asphyxiation”). It’s worth a read just for the sheer douchebaggery that is displayed so prominently by the G-Man. You can read the full interview here, but just check out his answers to some of the questions:

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Drugs and music go together like puppy dogs and newborns, so what better a subject to kick off my (hooooopefully regular) top five lists. I assert off the bat that I truly have never done any sort of psychedelic drug, and that if I did, given my inherent psychological disposition, I would probably react very badly. I imagine it would be like something out of the Altered State of Druggachusettes sketch from Mr. Show, where I would be the Professor (”I’m having a bad time here, man!”) but all the other characters would be played by giant melting skulls.

So let’s have a stab at this thing, shall we? Up first is …

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I was making this mix because of the deaths of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes last week, but just now I discovered it’s also coinciding with the (maybe) death of muxtape.com! I went to the site to upload these songs and found only this message:

Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.

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Viva Viagra! Hola mis amigos! What a week. First, my wide-eyed, naïve view of the sanctity American politics and marriage was shattered after I heard the revelations about former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his freaky-deaky tryst with a former campaign staffer. And then that guy who was in Booty Call died.

It’s just too much to take in. Hark, is that a “tear in my beer”? Yea! Methinks the best, nay, the only way to drown our collective sorrows is with a down-low, dog-eared country music muxtape. So grab your nattiest pair of Lee® Jeans and a pair of Dale Earnhardt Jr.® beer coozies and “rustle on down your coyotes” to these countrified tunes. Read on for the tracklist …

http://personadondada.muxtape.com

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The year in movies got off to a pretty tepid start, but I’d say it’s heated up considerably in the past couple months. Whoda thunk that the same year that brought us Superhero Movie, Uwe Boll’s Postal and What Happens in Vegas… would end up being one of the best summer movie seasons I can remember?

OK, let’s cut the mustard. Since I’ve been in Tucson, I’ve had a lot of extra time, ahem, extra social time on my hands. So I’ve seen most of the big movies this year, but I haven’t seen everything. So, considering that I haven’t seen every movie that came out this year (and I don’t think I’ve seen any arthouse movies this year), the following are what I personally consider my top 8 of the year so far:

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“It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you / Without a strong rhyme to step to.”
- Rakim

Yes folks, this is my first muxtape update in several weeks. It’s really my first post in a while. I don’t have much of an excuse other than I was really busy with my new job. Here’s a list of what’s been going down since I left; after this let’s just pretend like this last month never happened …

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I’ve started temping, and though finally being able to cash in on all those “Advanced Cutting and Pasting Functions” courses I took in college has been edifying, I’ve found that I require a bit of extra stimulation to keep my eyes from rolling into the back of my head during the day. (No, seriously the new gig is tops) Luckily, I’ve recently discovered some podcasts that not only propel my day, but sate my English major’s guilt for being able to fit the amount of books I’ve read since graduating in a lunch pail.

The New Yorker’s website has been hosting readings (available for free) from authors of their favorite short stories from the magazine’s archive. Guests have included Edwidge Danticat, T.C. Boyle and Jonathan Lethem. There’s 14 files up, and it looks like the posts have been a bit sporadic, so I hope they keep it up. Here’s a couple of my favorites so far:

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It’s almost Summer, and the baby desert quail are hatching! Between chasing my dog away from the quail nest in our backyard and learning about the pirate’s code on the National Geographic Channel, I whipped up this mix. Read on for the tracklist, numbnuts!

personadondada.muxtape.com

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First, I can’t help but acknowledge the unstoppable cultural ascendance of Persona Don Dada. Just days after I posted last week’s Vintage Video of Rodney Dangerfield’s novelty classic “Rappin’ Rodney,” the Onion A.V. Club ran a feature on novelty singles by comedians, headed by none other than “Rappin’ Rodney.” Coincidence? If so, let’s just say it’s a coincidence that I expect will be getting fairly common very soon …

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