image c/o Spin
In response to Steely Dan’s critical letter about You, Me, and Dupree, Owen Wilson is firing back. This is hilarious:

“I have never heard the song ‘Cousin Dupree’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, ‘HEY 19.’”

We hope they keep this feud alive. We want to see a duel in the vein of Hamilton and Burr.

We found this video on Jesus General and simply had to share. It’s Buffalo Springfield performing “For What it’s Worth” and “Mr. Soul” on the TV show The Hollywood Palace. We can’t believe how young Neil Young looks!

Scarlett Johansson in Scoop
Tonight: Friday 7.28.
It’s hot and it’s probably going to rain. We’re going to check out the new Woody Allen film, Scoop. The reviews are mixed but the film stars Scarlett Johansson, so it can’t be all bad.

Juan McLean
On Saturday July 29 [from flavorpill]:

Warm Up feat. the Juan Maclean w/ Adam X, Jeffrey Sfire, and the Rogers Sisters
when: 3-9pm
where: P.S.1 (22-25 Jackson Ave, LIC, 718.784.2084)
price: $10
New York represents well today with freak-disco DFA kings the Juan Maclean, bangin’ techno avatar Adam X, Ghostly (mostly) minimalist Jeffrey Sfire, and — kicking things off — indie-rock trio the Rogers Sisters. More info here.
Head to Water Taxi Beach for ReBound, the official Warm Up afterparty.
also on Saturday, head up to the Catskills:
free103point9 presents Spectral Garden feat. Matthew Burtner, Nicolas Collins, and Scanner
when: 3-9pm
where: free103point9 Wave Farm (5662 Rt 23, Acra, 518.622.2598)
price: FREE
The free103point9 Wave Farm is a touchy-feely place, but it can be a damn good break to take from NYC’s pavement-boiling summer malaise (and even the saltiest city crank would be hard-pressed to resist their well-strung hammocks). As a part of their summer event series, the nonprofit arts organization invites three sound artists to put their grant money where their MIDI controllers are for an afternoon in the meadow, testing out big words and vague phrases like “ecoacoustics” and “the experimental terrain between sound, space, image, and form.” Matthew Burtner’s noise-based Studies for Radio Transceiver explores the nature of radio, while Nicolas Collins and the British sound artist Scanner work with cell phone conversations and broken broadcasts — appropriately, metropolis in decay. MORE INFO HERE

Of Montreal
And on Sunday, a free show at McCarren Park featuring:
Of Montreal
Enon
Irving
Asobi Seksu
The show begins at 2pm and ends at 8pm. Don’t miss the wildly underated Of Montreal. They are fantastic live!

Greed turns Exxon CEO Lee Raymond into a freakish Batman villian, Mr. Chins
And we thought the Iraq war was supposed to guarantee lower oil prices. [From the AP]

The earnings figure was 36 percent above the profit it reported a year ago. High oil prices helped boost the company’s revenue by 12 percent to a level just short of a quarterly record.
Exxon Mobil’s report comes a day after another large U.S. oil company, ConocoPhillips, said it earned more than $5 billion in the quarter and at a time when many drivers in the U.S. are paying $3 for a gallon of gas _ increasing the likelihood of further political backlash in Washington.
Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest oil company by market capitalization, said earnings amounted to $1.72 per share in the April-June quarter compared with a profit of $7.64 billion, or $1.20 per share, a year ago.
The results topped Wall Street expectations but came in behind Exxon Mobil’s record profit of $10.71 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $1.64 per share.
Revenue rose to $99.03 billion from $88.57 billion in the prior-year quarter. That was short of Exxon Mobil’s record third-quarter revenue of $100.72 billion _ which also stands as record revenue generated by any U.S. public company ever in a single quarter.
Its shares rose 85 cents to $67.45 in premarket trading. That would top its 52-week high of $67.18.
Exxon Mobil said it spent $4.9 billion on capital and exploration projects during the quarter, up 8 percent from a year ago, while distributing $7.9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Congress has been urging the big oil companies to put more of their profits toward boosting the supply of energy for consumers.
By segment, exploration and production earnings rose sharply to $7.13 billion, up $2.23 billion from the second quarter of last year, a reflection of higher crude and natural gas prices. Production increased 6 percent from a year ago and 9 percent if the impact of divestments and entitlements are excluded.
The company’s refining and marketing segment reported a $264 million earnings increase to $2.48 billion, the result of stronger refining margins, slightly offset by weaker marketing margins.
Exxon’s chemical business saw earnings rise $26 million to $840 million.

A transcript from the show “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” [via Wonkette]:

Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality.
DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you think on some level, has ‚Äî is a latent homosexual, is that what you’re saying?
Ms. COULTER: Yeah.

This tops our list of the most bizarre news items yet this year. The founding members of Steely Dan have posted a letter to Luke Wilson in regard to the “extremely retrograde reality matrix” that his brother Owen has slipped into. We hate seeing the formerly hilarious Owen starring in schlock like You, Me and Dupree as well. (For Christ’s sake…. Owen has writing credits on the first three Wes Anderson films). Nonetheless, someone needs to remind Steely Dan to get off their high horse. They are, after all, touring this year with Michael McDonald. Check out the band’s hilarious but bizarre letter here. [via Fist With Your Toes]

And since we’re on the subject of Toby Keith, we simply *must* visit Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. The website claims ‚”We got cowboys; we got truckers; Broken hearted fools and suckers, Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm… Enjoy one of our signature blue Cabo Wabo Margaritas featuring rock singer Sammy Hagar’s tequila.” And of course, they have freedom fries.
[thanks Jason]

For those of you who missed the U.N. report on Iraq last week, the casualty numbers are staggering. At least 50,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the invasion in 2003. Most troubling, an estimated 75 to 125 civilians are killed per day. And yesterday the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, made this statement:

“The security situation has got worse since the government took control… All the groups involved in terrorism have escalated bombings, kidnappings and other actions.”

Stay the course has always been empty rhetoric, but that has never been more true than today as violence continues to grow in Iraq. Saying things are going to get better defies logic. We should have never gone and it’s past time we left.

Our Rapture-Ready brother has the story.

Since the effin L Train is not running this weekend, why not get drunk in the hood?
Saturday, July 22
(Rain date: Sunday, July 23)
Free indy rock, free beer, and a great backyard space. The band in question is VIA VIOLENTA. Watch this video for info and to hear band.
LOCATION: 27 Ten Eyck Street (note that ‚”Ten” is part of the name of the street, not the house number) between (Lorimer and Union. Short walk from Lorimer Station, two stops into Brooklyn on the L line.
COVER: Zero dollars. (We will be accepting $5 donations to off-set costs, but this is strictly voluntary.)
BEER: Free
DOORS open: 2pm, Event over: 6pm, Band takes stage: 4pm
ALSO on Saturday: Warm-Up at PS1 [Via Flavorpill]

Warm Up feat. A Guy Called Gerald w/ San Serac and Derek Plaslaiko
when: Sat 7.22 (3-9pm)
where: P.S.1 (22-25 Jackson Ave, LIC, 718.784.2084)
price: $10
An esteemed member of electronic music’s old guard, techno via drum ‘n bass via acid-house pioneer A Guy Called Gerald has had a prolific career, a cross section of which he’ll share in today’s live performance for the P.S.1 faithful. Note: The post-P.S.1 Rebound series at the nearby Water Taxi Beach continues to impress, tonight featuring Alex from Tokyo, Ursula 1000, and Nublu’s Probus and Justin Carter.

And on Sunday July 23
Pretty Girls Make Graves at McCarren Park Pool
(Lorimer St. btw. Driggs and Bayard – Williamsburg)
From myopenbar.com:

The Deal: 2-8pm
free show, byob (very stealth-like), or buy Brooklyn lager for $4 like a sucka
Pretty Girls Make Graves headlines the third show in the free Sunday McCarren Park Pool series. There are no free drinks, but there was free ice cream one week, and the Sparky’s catering is a nice touch. If you don’t want to pay $4 per beer, stuff a six-pack down your pants somehow (cause they’ll check your bags) and bring it on in.