from Editor and Publisher:
Trio of Papers Pull Today’s ‘Boondocks’ Referring to Bush and Drugs
NEW YORK – At least three of the approximately 300 “Boondocks” clients dropped today’s strip mentioning President Bush’s alleged former drug use.
Aaron McGruder’s comic showed one character saying: “Bush got recorded admitting that he smoked weed.” Another character replies: “Maybe he smoked it to take the edge off the coke.”
According to Universal Press Syndicate, newspapers pulling today’s strip included The Detroit News and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. The Poynter Institute’s Romenesko site reported that the Chicago Tribune also dropped today’s “Boondocks,” with the paper saying the comic “presents inaccurate information as fact.”
Universal said the Star Tribune also plans to drop tomorrow’s “Boondocks,” which again refers to Bush’s alleged former drug use.
The syndicate further noted that The Miami Herald plans to pull “The Boondocks” when McGruder addresses a different topic this Friday and Saturday; Universal declined to say what that topic will be.
“We respect the rights of editors to substitute strips or not run them if they feel a comic is inappropriate,” said Kathie Kerr, director of communications at Universal.

We can’t decide who we dislike more, rightwing anorexic douchebag Ann Coulter or the geriatric anti-socialite Liz Smith, so we’ll just call it a draw.
Hats off to the usually apolitical Gawker for refreshing Liz Smith’s botox-infected memory on Ann Coulter.
Liz Smith in today’s NYPost:
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn,” wrote Gore Vidal. Well, in that case, I suppose we can say the conservative writer Ann Coulter has lots of style.”

And Ann Coulter in 2001:
“We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war.”

Our favorite blog, catch.com is back. Go say hello:

We missed you guys!

We’re looking for an Williamsburg-based intern (or two) with experience in writing about food and/or bars. If this is you and you have some clips, write us here.

We don’t know if this is terrifying or really amusing.
Click on image to see Tony’s collections.

Animal Collective at Todd P’s club Llano Estacado
A lot of people have been asking us about Todd P’s new space The Llano Estacado by the river in Williamsburg (NE Corner of Metropolitan & River St). We finally had a chance to investigate last night at the sold out Animal Collective show (check them out tonight at The Bowery Ballroom). It’s a huge windowless 2-level warehouse space with its main stage in the basement. Piss before you arrive, there’s a scary makeshift toilet behind a black plastic curtain. The upstairs has a smaller stage and there was some local art hanging. The club is impressively huge and refreshingly lo-fi. Definitely a DIY experiment. There were extension cords hanging from the ceiling. The sound was great even though we felt like we were in some weird post apocalyptic dungeon. Click here to go to promoter and owner Todd P’s website.
Here’s Todd’s explanation of the name:
“The Llano Estacado is pronounced law-no ez-tuh-caw-doh, it’s named after a region of West Texas, where the desert meets the Great Plains, and also a place where they willfully mispronounce Spanish words – hence the “L” sound at the beginning rather than a “Y” sound. The name was given by the conquistador Coronado, it translates as “the staked plain,” referring (by legend) to the fact that the Spanish drove stakes into the ground to mark where they were, for lack of any natural landmarks.”
Click here for upcoming shows and ticket info
more photos and a review of the show after the jump….

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This is really disturbing. Click on the picture to read the full story. (Thanks shlonkombakazay)

photos by Jeff Campbell

The Animal Collective discuss Vashti Bunyan, drugs, Black Dice, George Bush, and their upcoming “love” record
[Don't miss them live in NY Feb. 24,25]

Following the release of their hugely popular Sung Tongs in 2004, The Animal
Collective have been described in countless ways. Hallucinogenic campfire music.
Cut-and-paste pop. Avante Folk. And don’t forget the obligatory Brian Wilson comparisons.
Animal Collective are a difficult band to categorize. Their sound is constantly
evolving. Their sound is consistently unique.

The foursome met in Baltimore, where they attended high school together and have
been good friends ever since. Like the Elephant Six collective, they record in
various incarnations and sometimes even release solo records under the Animal
Collective umbrella. The communal approach they take to their music seems in harmony
with their humble personalities and their otherworldly aesthetic.

Adding to their mystique, they often wear animal masks on stage, but “only when [they] feel like it” to avoid being reduced to a gimmick.

Most of the members of the Animal Collective have aliases. David Portner goes
by Avey Tare. Noah Lennox is Panda Bear. Brian Weitz is Geologist.
And Conrad Deaken simply goes by Deaken. Though Noah is often credited
as the primary songwriter (his solo release as Panda Bear last year was warmly
received by critics) they insist the Collective has no leader. They have their
own label, Paw Tracks, though their most recent releases have been with Fatcat.

We met with Avey Tare (above left) and Geologist (above right) at Union Square on an unseasonably warm day in early February. Avey lives
in Brooklyn and went to NYU. Geologist was visiting from D.C. He received his
undergrad at Columbia.

Avey Tare was wearing a shark tooth necklace. He had mysterious scratches on
his hand which had to be the work of a cat or perhaps some more mysterious
creature conjured from the netherworlds of their music. They were friendly and articulate, if somewhat aloof, and their comfort with one another made it obvious that they were old and dear friends.

Don’t miss their shows this week:

February 24th – SOLD OUT
Storsveit Nix Noltes
Animal Collective
@ THE LLANO ESTACADO
NE Corner of Metropolitan Ave and River St. (in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) 8pm

February 25th
Jah Division
Storsveit Nix Noltes
Animal Collective
Bowery Ballroom (Manhattan) 8pm

***********************************************


People always describe your sound as being psychedelic. Are drugs a part of your
music?

AVEY TARE: We record sober, mostly. It’s important for us to get things to
sound exactly the way we want and recording comes down to really concentrating
on what we’re doing.
GEOLOGIST: It’s work.

How long has the band been playing together as The
Animal Collective?

AVEY TARE: Well, as the Animal Collective we’ve been playing for about
three or four years. We used to just call ourselves by our individual aliases, but as we began to play together more on the records it became easier to just go by The Animal Collective.

How did you come up with all of your aliases?

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Korn guitarist finds God, leaves band
NEW YORK (Billboard) — Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch has parted ways with the hard rock act, citing a recent religious awakening.
Welch broke the news Sunday on Bakersfield, California, station KRAB-FM.
“I had it in my heart to come here and explain to you,” Welch said. “I’m good friends with Korn. I love those guys, and they love me, and they’re very happy for me.”
Addressing the aggressive tone of the music he made with Korn, Welch said, “Anger is a good thing, and if kids want to listen to Korn, good, but there’s happiness after the anger. I’m going to show it through my actions how much I love my fans.”

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The New Yorker recently ran a very important, profoundly insightful, and achingly disturbing story on America’s covert torture outsourcing program. It’s long, like all of the New Yorker‘s stories, but worth reading every word. It’s the most important story written by an American magazine since Seymour Hersch revealed the Abu Ghraib scandal. In case you missed it, Truthout has the full printable version, here:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020905M.shtml
This one’s too important to miss.